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swiftraxHawaii Five-0 - Halfway Home - Part 3
Rated PG
Steve McGarrett / Danny Williams
Mentions of prescription drug use/reliance, mental health issues
Post-Series Fix It (eventually)
Danny's life starts to go downhill with Steve's departure, made worse by the fact that Steve has dropped out of communication almost entirely. When a report comes in of an incident of vigilantism in Maine by a man matching Steve's description, Danny embarks on a journey to find his missing friend.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Grace forwards him a text without comment, save for a worried face emoji, and Danny starts to panic.
//Hey kiddo! I’m heading out of cell range soon, so don’t be worried if you don’t hear from me for a while. Call Auntie Kono if there’s an emergency and she’ll find a way to reach me. Love you Gracie, and tell Danno and Charlie I love them too//
“Tell us yourself, you stubborn asshole!” Danny throws the phone across the room. Eddie gives him a judgemental glare from the couch as the phone lands with a cracking sound.
It’s not like he was expecting Steve to reply to his booze-induced weakness like a civilized person, because Steve has the social skills of a dehydrated grape, but some kind of acknowledgement of the message would have made Danny feel better. Going via Grace is just rude.
After ten years of Danny’s best efforts to break through Steve’s kevlar exterior to find some semblance of a human person underneath, he’s wondering if he didn’t just see what he wanted to see and overlooked the warning signs. Steve has always had a sixth sense for knowing when Danny has a good rant festering in his mind, and always manages to avoid him while maintaining plausible deniability.
Texting Grace instead means that technically he’s told Danny before disappearing off the face of the earth, but neatly prevents Danny from giving him an earful about it.
The least he could do is pre-emptively apologize for putting Danny through another indeterminate period of anxious hell when it’s entirely avoidable.
Instead, what he’s got is the equivalent of ‘don’t call me, I’ll call you’ and it makes him furious.
“Honestly, what does your father think he’s doing?” Danny addresses Eddie, who just flops his head down and says nothing. “Typical. You McGarretts are all the same, all cut from the same emotionally stunted cloth. And maybe, just maybe I’ve finally lost it. Because here I am, having an argument with a dog.”
Danny attempts to ignore the strangled quality of his own voice, and tries for a few calming breaths, but the air just won’t seem to fill his lungs. He sits down before he can fall down.
“I can’t do this anymore.” Danny murmurs into the side of the couch, and Eddie takes pity on him, getting up and snuggling into the crook of Danny’s neck. “I’m sorry I called you emotionally stunted.”
Eddie licks the side of his face in forgiveness, Danny only now realizing that tears are tracked down his cheeks.
“I can’t make him want to come home.” Danny sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “He’s already gone, and I need to accept it. I need to stop sitting here, waiting for him to come back. Because he’s not coming.”
Eddie whines and Danny soothes him with a ruffle of his ears.
“I know all of this. So why can’t I let him go, huh?”
Danny looks out the window, where the storm is rolling in on the horizon. Lightning is flashing between the clouds, and a breeze is picking up through the trees.
“I guess I’m a bigger idiot than he is.”
Danny takes Eddie’s silence for agreement.
Danny drags himself into the office the next morning with a sense of trepidation. They’ve finally had a break in a case that’s been dogging them all for weeks, but the situation is time-sensitive and they’ve all been feeling the pressure.
His teammates are already huddled around the smart table when Danny arrives, and the looks on their faces set him on edge immediately. On the screen is a picture of a man with his face badly beaten and bruised. In the sidebar there is a composite sketch of a man that looks suspiciously like Steve. On its own, the picture is incongruous and slightly concerning. But when he adds that to the caginess of the rest of the team, Danny does not like the direction his morning is taking.
“What the hell is going on?” Danny asks.
“We didn't want to worry you,” Tani says, looking guilty. “We're sure it's nothing.”
“Can someone please explain to me why there is a comp sketch of Steve up there?” Danny’s insides feel like they’re sinking towards the floor, and he none-too-casually sits down on the edge of the smart table.
Cole speaks first, after a damning silence. “I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but a detective on the mainland reached out when a man matching Steve's description was implicated in the assault of the man on the left.”
“Assault?” Danny says, weakly.
“The assault investigation has been put on hold on account of this guy being indicted on a bunch of unrelated conspiracy charges. But earlier in the investigation, he took a beating from someone and the description he gave the sketch artist pretty closely resembles McGarrett.”
“Danny, when did you last hear from Steve?” Tani asks, gently.
“I—” Danny shakes his head, trying to focus on what Tani is saying. “He texted Grace yesterday. Said he was going out of cell range and not to worry.”
“That’s good Danny,” Quinn starts running a diagnostic on Grace’s number, and pulls Steve’s phone records up from an open file.
“OK. So this is bad. This looks very fucking… bad.” Danny’s breathing starts to feel labored and black spots bleed into the edges of his vision. He nearly jumps a mile in the air when Tani takes him by the elbow and steers him towards the couch in his office.
“Honey, you can calm down, it’s ok. We’re sure Steve is all right.” She presses a water bottle into his hands and rubs him soothingly across the shoulders. But Danny is too far gone already.
“No, no, no… You don't understand. He's in trouble and he doesn't want us to know.”
Danny has seen this before. Dozens of times before. Tani wasn’t around for Steve’s Wo Fat related wild goose chases and forays into crazy town. But Danny was there, and has the gray hairs to prove it.
“So Steve said he might be off the grid for a while, but I’m guessing he didn't mention anything about getting into a beef with some domestic terrorists.” Tani surmises, and takes Danny’s hands in hers before he can clench them into fists.
“He could be god-knows-where by now.” Danny says, and sighs.
“We need to find him, don’t we?” Tani says, worried.
“If Steve's gone to ground, it won’t be easy. We won’t find him from here.” Danny gives her a gentle squeeze, and stands. The panic of earlier is starting to fade, leaving only a dull sense of foreboding behind.
Quinn pokes her head in the door. “I have a last known location for his cell which puts him in Portland Monday night.”
“Oregon? What the hell is Steve doing in Oregon?” As far as Danny knows, Steve has never mentioned any particular interest in visiting the place before.
“No, ah, he's in Maine which I guess doesn't make any more sense than Oregon. Unless he is spoofing his cell, that's where the trail ends,” Quinn says, apologetic.
Danny and Tani follow her back out to the main room, and Danny forces himself to look back up at the screen. The picture of Steve is gone, but the photo of the victim is still there.
“So, uh, what's the deal with this guy? Does he know anything?”
“No, he clammed up pretty quick once the Feds started poking around. I’d say he's holding out for a deal. But if he finds out that the guy who gave him a beating is an off-duty cop then it might just give him enough leverage to weasel his way out of a few charges.”
“I’m guessing the Feds won’t be too happy with that eventuality?” Danny asks.
“Let’s just say, I had to do some pretty smooth talking to avoid a visit from the FBI, and the Governor was pretty pissed,” Cole says, disgruntled.
“I mean, I get that this is probably a bad guy, but why would Steve risk getting involved in something like that on his own?” Adam flips through the rap-sheet of one Miles Johnson, suspected of ties to domestic terror organizations, who is now sporting two broken arms, a broken jaw and multiple cuts and bruises.
“I don't know Adam, but it will be the first thing I ask him when I find him,” Danny says, feeling more than a little angry now.
“I'm coming with you.” Junior says definitively, but Danny waves him off.
“Listen, you guys are in the middle of the Woodbridge case. You can't afford to go running halfway across the planet looking for Steve when we don't know anything more than what you've just told me. He could be totally fine and this is just an unfortunate coincidence.”
Tani looks skeptical. “We don't want you to go alone. What if you need backup?”
“If there is anything off about this, Five-0 will be my first call. I will be fine, I promise. I'll call you the moment things go sideways, not that I’m saying things will go sideways…” Danny tries to reassure her. “If Steve doesn’t want us to know he's in trouble, then going in guns blazing is only going to piss him off. I promise you the moment I find him or get any leads you will hear about it.”
“Just promise us you’ll be careful Danny,” Quinn says as she grabs a Sat-phone and hands it to him.
“Hey, I’m not the unhinged idiot who decided to start a turf war with a civilian militia.”
“No, you’re not. But Steve clearly needs someone with their head on straight to make sure things don’t get worse. And you, my friend, are not always objective when it comes to the boss-man.” She smiles to soften the blow, but Danny still wants to bristle at the implications that he’s somehow unfit to do what he’s always done.
“Come on, I’ll help you get everything sorted and I’ll take you to the airport.” Adam cuts in before Danny can muster an appropriate response that isn’t biting Quinn’s head off. Danny lets Adam herd him back to his office to grab his go-bag and his taskforce travel documentation, before the others can change their minds about accompanying him.
“I know they want to come along, but you can’t let them follow me. Not until I figure out what’s going on,” Danny says, once the door is shut.
“I’ll make sure they leave you two alone for as long as I can. I know you’ve got a lot to sort out,” Adam agrees, and helps Danny pack his service weapon and some extra provisions.
“It’s not that I don’t want the help, and god knows what mess I’ll find when I do catch up with Steve. But the last thing I need is a bunch of well-meaning knuckleheads giving him hell for being gone when he has very valid reasons for needing some space.”
“Steve’s obviously dealing with some things, Danny. He might not be doing as well as he’s been telling us.” The warning in Adam’s voice is redundant as far as Danny’s concerned. He knows only too well about Steve’s many, many issues, and while he’s tried to respect Steve’s decision to deal with them on his own, Danny is starting to suspect that Steve is losing the battle.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Danny zips the bag closed, hefting it over his good shoulder.
Tani stops him with a hug when he gets to the front door. “When you see the boss tell him we miss him and he'd better have a damn good reason for being gone so long. Also, don’t let him do anything stupid.”
“If wishes were horses,” Danny says, but hugs her tightly all the same.
“I don’t want to hear anything in the news about Five-0 while I’m gone, you got that, you yahoos?” Danny yells at the others.
There is a chorus of innocent “Bye Danny’s” as he leaves, which he doesn’t believe for a second.
The layover at O’Hare is only a few hours. It’s all worth it just to see his little girl again. Grace shrieks when she sees him, and wraps him up in the best hug he’s ever had in his entire life. He’s so proud of her and how independent she is, but there’s that natural paternal worry that is only assuaged when he can see for himself that she’s safe and well.
“Uh, what’s with the backpack, monkey? You going somewhere?”
“Urgh don’t call me that! And yeah, I’m coming with you to find Uncle Steve.”
“Grace…”
“Danno,” she parrots his tone back at him with a roll of her eyes. “Look, the way I see it, Uncle Steve is being his usual stubborn self, and you’re always saying he never listens to you. So I’m coming too, to make sure he’s okay, and to make sure he understands that you’ve got a delicate heart and he needs to stop giving you panic attacks.”
“While me and my ‘delicate heart’ appreciate your support, you have exams next week. End of story. Besides, I have no idea where Steve is, so it might take a while to track him down.”
“You said he’s gone off the grid. Uncle Steve would only do that if he was in trouble. What if something’s happened to him?”
Danny bites his tongue around the impulse to tell Grace the truth. She’s smart enough to have figured out that something is up, but he’s hesitant to tell her the gory details when he isn’t sure himself of the circumstances around Steve’s disappearance.
“I know you’re worried but I promise you, even if he’s somehow stumbled into a situation, this won’t even be in the top ten for your Uncle Trouble-magnet.” Danny says the words as sincerely as he can, but the fact of the matter is deep down he’s scared. Scared of what he will or won’t find when he catches up with Steve.
Grace looks skeptical, but she meets him in the middle. “Fine. But if you haven’t found him by the end of semester, I’m coming to help.”
Danny’s growling stomach forestalls any further argument. Grace ushers him past the tiny overpriced cafe—the in-flight meal was lackluster, but previous experience warns them away from the sandwich cases and the unmoving queue. Danny doesn’t protest when Grace drags him to Mickey D’s. He orders a cardiologist-verboten Big Mac, but with a salad instead of fries to appease the look on Grace’s face.
“Danno, go sit. I’ll bring the food over once it’s ready.” She pats him on the shoulder the way he used to do to Grandpa Williams when he was having one of his vague spells. It makes him laugh for a second, and he tries not to take it too personally that she’s treating him like he’s fragile.
“See, this is why I had children. So they can fetch and carry for me when I’m old.”
“You’re not old Danno!” The reassurance is appreciated, but not entirely believable. Grace just huffs at him and goes to collect their food.
Danny slides into one of the booths in the corner, and tries not to be too disappointed at the texture and temperature of his salad when it arrives.
“Uncle Steve told us not to worry,” Grace says, trying to sound confident. Her expression is still adorably befuddled, “I know lots of people take a gap year and stuff, but where is he going that there’s no cell service? With all of the medication he takes, is it really a good idea to be that far from a proper hospital?”
Danny doesn’t want to worry her even more, but it’s nothing he himself hasn’t pondered in the idle time of the twelve hour plane flight. Danny is just here to make sure Steve is in one piece and that whatever went down a month ago is over and done with. Once he’s sure that everything is ok, he’ll go back home and let Steve’s adventure of self-discovery take him wherever it will.
“You are one hundred percent correct, monkey, which is why I am going to find your uncle and talk some sense into him.”
“Danno, it’s not that I’m not… like... ugh… I guess what I’m saying is I’m really glad I got to see you—” She chews on a french fry, face uncertain “—but are you sure this is the best plan? Steve seemed really adamant about you staying in Hawaii. He was pretty weird about it last time I talked to him, to be honest.”
Danny tries to ignore the cold feeling that washes over him. His mind races back over all the awkward texts and the long bouts of radio silence, and comes to some alarming conclusions. He has to accept the possibility that Steve will not be happy to see him, and it is almost too awful to contemplate.
“Weird how?” Danny asks, chest gone tight.
“I dunno. Just, like he was going on about how great it was that you were doing so well. He was super not subtle about trying to get information out of me, and kept asking about whether you were still working. He even asked if you were seeing anyone. I know how much he pushed you to get back together with mom, but I had to tell him about Mickey. He just went kind of quiet after that.”
Grace’s shoulders slump guiltily, and Danny isn’t sure what to make of this new information that apparently Steve has been keeping tabs on him in such an unnecessarily underhanded way.
“All of these things I would have gladly told him myself if he had just called,” Danny says, reaching out to reassure her. “I guess I should be happy that he’s at least talking to you.”
“Steve really misses you Danno, but I think he’s afraid to let you know how much. He doesn’t want you to worry, and he just wants you to be happy.”
“I was happy when I had my daughter at home where I could keep an eye on her, and when I had my best friend there to help me raise my two ridiculous children.” Danny tries for levity, but knows he’s missed the mark when Grace’s smile dims.
“I won’t be in college forever Danno, and I’m coming home for Christmas, remember? Steve will come back too—you know he’ll never find someone else to put up with him the way you do.”
Danny sighs. He has to admit, if only to himself, that the last part is probably true.
“You’re really smart, you know that?” Danny says, and steals a handful of fries from her plate while she pretends not to see. “And while I hope you’re right that Steve will come home, he said there’s nothing left tying him to Hawaii. So we shouldn’t get our hopes up.”
“Don’t be so negative Danno,” Grace chides, in the somewhat condescending tone Danny wishes she’d never learned from Steve. “And of course I’m smart. I’m the daughter of at least one pretty great detective,” she continues with an impish grin. “But sometimes I think he misses some big clues.”
“You’re hilarious.” Danny frowns, and steals the last french fry in retaliation.
The boarding announcement interrupts them before Danny can think of how best to dispute her assessment, and he’s stuck letting her have the last word unless he wants to make the conversation even more drawn out.
Grace kindly lets him off the hook rather than expecting him to admit that he wants Steve to think of Danny as a reason to come home. Her empathy for others is one of the things he’s most proud of, and when she gives him another hug goodbye, he actually feels a bit better about everything.
“Go find Uncle Steve,” she pushes him towards the boarding gate with an impatient shove. “And when you see him, tell him the truth—he needs to hear it.”
Before Danny can protest that it’s not so simple, nor so black and white, the flight attendant takes his pass from him, and ushers him through the security gate.
“Be good, Danno loves you,” he manages to say before the queue takes him too far away.
“Love you too Danno, and I’ll see you in a few weeks,” Grace shouts after him, waving madly.
Next Part - Coming Soon
Rated PG
Steve McGarrett / Danny Williams
Mentions of prescription drug use/reliance, mental health issues
Post-Series Fix It (eventually)
Danny's life starts to go downhill with Steve's departure, made worse by the fact that Steve has dropped out of communication almost entirely. When a report comes in of an incident of vigilantism in Maine by a man matching Steve's description, Danny embarks on a journey to find his missing friend.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Grace forwards him a text without comment, save for a worried face emoji, and Danny starts to panic.
//Hey kiddo! I’m heading out of cell range soon, so don’t be worried if you don’t hear from me for a while. Call Auntie Kono if there’s an emergency and she’ll find a way to reach me. Love you Gracie, and tell Danno and Charlie I love them too//
“Tell us yourself, you stubborn asshole!” Danny throws the phone across the room. Eddie gives him a judgemental glare from the couch as the phone lands with a cracking sound.
It’s not like he was expecting Steve to reply to his booze-induced weakness like a civilized person, because Steve has the social skills of a dehydrated grape, but some kind of acknowledgement of the message would have made Danny feel better. Going via Grace is just rude.
After ten years of Danny’s best efforts to break through Steve’s kevlar exterior to find some semblance of a human person underneath, he’s wondering if he didn’t just see what he wanted to see and overlooked the warning signs. Steve has always had a sixth sense for knowing when Danny has a good rant festering in his mind, and always manages to avoid him while maintaining plausible deniability.
Texting Grace instead means that technically he’s told Danny before disappearing off the face of the earth, but neatly prevents Danny from giving him an earful about it.
The least he could do is pre-emptively apologize for putting Danny through another indeterminate period of anxious hell when it’s entirely avoidable.
Instead, what he’s got is the equivalent of ‘don’t call me, I’ll call you’ and it makes him furious.
“Honestly, what does your father think he’s doing?” Danny addresses Eddie, who just flops his head down and says nothing. “Typical. You McGarretts are all the same, all cut from the same emotionally stunted cloth. And maybe, just maybe I’ve finally lost it. Because here I am, having an argument with a dog.”
Danny attempts to ignore the strangled quality of his own voice, and tries for a few calming breaths, but the air just won’t seem to fill his lungs. He sits down before he can fall down.
“I can’t do this anymore.” Danny murmurs into the side of the couch, and Eddie takes pity on him, getting up and snuggling into the crook of Danny’s neck. “I’m sorry I called you emotionally stunted.”
Eddie licks the side of his face in forgiveness, Danny only now realizing that tears are tracked down his cheeks.
“I can’t make him want to come home.” Danny sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “He’s already gone, and I need to accept it. I need to stop sitting here, waiting for him to come back. Because he’s not coming.”
Eddie whines and Danny soothes him with a ruffle of his ears.
“I know all of this. So why can’t I let him go, huh?”
Danny looks out the window, where the storm is rolling in on the horizon. Lightning is flashing between the clouds, and a breeze is picking up through the trees.
“I guess I’m a bigger idiot than he is.”
Danny takes Eddie’s silence for agreement.
Danny drags himself into the office the next morning with a sense of trepidation. They’ve finally had a break in a case that’s been dogging them all for weeks, but the situation is time-sensitive and they’ve all been feeling the pressure.
His teammates are already huddled around the smart table when Danny arrives, and the looks on their faces set him on edge immediately. On the screen is a picture of a man with his face badly beaten and bruised. In the sidebar there is a composite sketch of a man that looks suspiciously like Steve. On its own, the picture is incongruous and slightly concerning. But when he adds that to the caginess of the rest of the team, Danny does not like the direction his morning is taking.
“What the hell is going on?” Danny asks.
“We didn't want to worry you,” Tani says, looking guilty. “We're sure it's nothing.”
“Can someone please explain to me why there is a comp sketch of Steve up there?” Danny’s insides feel like they’re sinking towards the floor, and he none-too-casually sits down on the edge of the smart table.
Cole speaks first, after a damning silence. “I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but a detective on the mainland reached out when a man matching Steve's description was implicated in the assault of the man on the left.”
“Assault?” Danny says, weakly.
“The assault investigation has been put on hold on account of this guy being indicted on a bunch of unrelated conspiracy charges. But earlier in the investigation, he took a beating from someone and the description he gave the sketch artist pretty closely resembles McGarrett.”
“Danny, when did you last hear from Steve?” Tani asks, gently.
“I—” Danny shakes his head, trying to focus on what Tani is saying. “He texted Grace yesterday. Said he was going out of cell range and not to worry.”
“That’s good Danny,” Quinn starts running a diagnostic on Grace’s number, and pulls Steve’s phone records up from an open file.
“OK. So this is bad. This looks very fucking… bad.” Danny’s breathing starts to feel labored and black spots bleed into the edges of his vision. He nearly jumps a mile in the air when Tani takes him by the elbow and steers him towards the couch in his office.
“Honey, you can calm down, it’s ok. We’re sure Steve is all right.” She presses a water bottle into his hands and rubs him soothingly across the shoulders. But Danny is too far gone already.
“No, no, no… You don't understand. He's in trouble and he doesn't want us to know.”
Danny has seen this before. Dozens of times before. Tani wasn’t around for Steve’s Wo Fat related wild goose chases and forays into crazy town. But Danny was there, and has the gray hairs to prove it.
“So Steve said he might be off the grid for a while, but I’m guessing he didn't mention anything about getting into a beef with some domestic terrorists.” Tani surmises, and takes Danny’s hands in hers before he can clench them into fists.
“He could be god-knows-where by now.” Danny says, and sighs.
“We need to find him, don’t we?” Tani says, worried.
“If Steve's gone to ground, it won’t be easy. We won’t find him from here.” Danny gives her a gentle squeeze, and stands. The panic of earlier is starting to fade, leaving only a dull sense of foreboding behind.
Quinn pokes her head in the door. “I have a last known location for his cell which puts him in Portland Monday night.”
“Oregon? What the hell is Steve doing in Oregon?” As far as Danny knows, Steve has never mentioned any particular interest in visiting the place before.
“No, ah, he's in Maine which I guess doesn't make any more sense than Oregon. Unless he is spoofing his cell, that's where the trail ends,” Quinn says, apologetic.
Danny and Tani follow her back out to the main room, and Danny forces himself to look back up at the screen. The picture of Steve is gone, but the photo of the victim is still there.
“So, uh, what's the deal with this guy? Does he know anything?”
“No, he clammed up pretty quick once the Feds started poking around. I’d say he's holding out for a deal. But if he finds out that the guy who gave him a beating is an off-duty cop then it might just give him enough leverage to weasel his way out of a few charges.”
“I’m guessing the Feds won’t be too happy with that eventuality?” Danny asks.
“Let’s just say, I had to do some pretty smooth talking to avoid a visit from the FBI, and the Governor was pretty pissed,” Cole says, disgruntled.
“I mean, I get that this is probably a bad guy, but why would Steve risk getting involved in something like that on his own?” Adam flips through the rap-sheet of one Miles Johnson, suspected of ties to domestic terror organizations, who is now sporting two broken arms, a broken jaw and multiple cuts and bruises.
“I don't know Adam, but it will be the first thing I ask him when I find him,” Danny says, feeling more than a little angry now.
“I'm coming with you.” Junior says definitively, but Danny waves him off.
“Listen, you guys are in the middle of the Woodbridge case. You can't afford to go running halfway across the planet looking for Steve when we don't know anything more than what you've just told me. He could be totally fine and this is just an unfortunate coincidence.”
Tani looks skeptical. “We don't want you to go alone. What if you need backup?”
“If there is anything off about this, Five-0 will be my first call. I will be fine, I promise. I'll call you the moment things go sideways, not that I’m saying things will go sideways…” Danny tries to reassure her. “If Steve doesn’t want us to know he's in trouble, then going in guns blazing is only going to piss him off. I promise you the moment I find him or get any leads you will hear about it.”
“Just promise us you’ll be careful Danny,” Quinn says as she grabs a Sat-phone and hands it to him.
“Hey, I’m not the unhinged idiot who decided to start a turf war with a civilian militia.”
“No, you’re not. But Steve clearly needs someone with their head on straight to make sure things don’t get worse. And you, my friend, are not always objective when it comes to the boss-man.” She smiles to soften the blow, but Danny still wants to bristle at the implications that he’s somehow unfit to do what he’s always done.
“Come on, I’ll help you get everything sorted and I’ll take you to the airport.” Adam cuts in before Danny can muster an appropriate response that isn’t biting Quinn’s head off. Danny lets Adam herd him back to his office to grab his go-bag and his taskforce travel documentation, before the others can change their minds about accompanying him.
“I know they want to come along, but you can’t let them follow me. Not until I figure out what’s going on,” Danny says, once the door is shut.
“I’ll make sure they leave you two alone for as long as I can. I know you’ve got a lot to sort out,” Adam agrees, and helps Danny pack his service weapon and some extra provisions.
“It’s not that I don’t want the help, and god knows what mess I’ll find when I do catch up with Steve. But the last thing I need is a bunch of well-meaning knuckleheads giving him hell for being gone when he has very valid reasons for needing some space.”
“Steve’s obviously dealing with some things, Danny. He might not be doing as well as he’s been telling us.” The warning in Adam’s voice is redundant as far as Danny’s concerned. He knows only too well about Steve’s many, many issues, and while he’s tried to respect Steve’s decision to deal with them on his own, Danny is starting to suspect that Steve is losing the battle.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Danny zips the bag closed, hefting it over his good shoulder.
Tani stops him with a hug when he gets to the front door. “When you see the boss tell him we miss him and he'd better have a damn good reason for being gone so long. Also, don’t let him do anything stupid.”
“If wishes were horses,” Danny says, but hugs her tightly all the same.
“I don’t want to hear anything in the news about Five-0 while I’m gone, you got that, you yahoos?” Danny yells at the others.
There is a chorus of innocent “Bye Danny’s” as he leaves, which he doesn’t believe for a second.
The layover at O’Hare is only a few hours. It’s all worth it just to see his little girl again. Grace shrieks when she sees him, and wraps him up in the best hug he’s ever had in his entire life. He’s so proud of her and how independent she is, but there’s that natural paternal worry that is only assuaged when he can see for himself that she’s safe and well.
“Uh, what’s with the backpack, monkey? You going somewhere?”
“Urgh don’t call me that! And yeah, I’m coming with you to find Uncle Steve.”
“Grace…”
“Danno,” she parrots his tone back at him with a roll of her eyes. “Look, the way I see it, Uncle Steve is being his usual stubborn self, and you’re always saying he never listens to you. So I’m coming too, to make sure he’s okay, and to make sure he understands that you’ve got a delicate heart and he needs to stop giving you panic attacks.”
“While me and my ‘delicate heart’ appreciate your support, you have exams next week. End of story. Besides, I have no idea where Steve is, so it might take a while to track him down.”
“You said he’s gone off the grid. Uncle Steve would only do that if he was in trouble. What if something’s happened to him?”
Danny bites his tongue around the impulse to tell Grace the truth. She’s smart enough to have figured out that something is up, but he’s hesitant to tell her the gory details when he isn’t sure himself of the circumstances around Steve’s disappearance.
“I know you’re worried but I promise you, even if he’s somehow stumbled into a situation, this won’t even be in the top ten for your Uncle Trouble-magnet.” Danny says the words as sincerely as he can, but the fact of the matter is deep down he’s scared. Scared of what he will or won’t find when he catches up with Steve.
Grace looks skeptical, but she meets him in the middle. “Fine. But if you haven’t found him by the end of semester, I’m coming to help.”
Danny’s growling stomach forestalls any further argument. Grace ushers him past the tiny overpriced cafe—the in-flight meal was lackluster, but previous experience warns them away from the sandwich cases and the unmoving queue. Danny doesn’t protest when Grace drags him to Mickey D’s. He orders a cardiologist-verboten Big Mac, but with a salad instead of fries to appease the look on Grace’s face.
“Danno, go sit. I’ll bring the food over once it’s ready.” She pats him on the shoulder the way he used to do to Grandpa Williams when he was having one of his vague spells. It makes him laugh for a second, and he tries not to take it too personally that she’s treating him like he’s fragile.
“See, this is why I had children. So they can fetch and carry for me when I’m old.”
“You’re not old Danno!” The reassurance is appreciated, but not entirely believable. Grace just huffs at him and goes to collect their food.
Danny slides into one of the booths in the corner, and tries not to be too disappointed at the texture and temperature of his salad when it arrives.
“Uncle Steve told us not to worry,” Grace says, trying to sound confident. Her expression is still adorably befuddled, “I know lots of people take a gap year and stuff, but where is he going that there’s no cell service? With all of the medication he takes, is it really a good idea to be that far from a proper hospital?”
Danny doesn’t want to worry her even more, but it’s nothing he himself hasn’t pondered in the idle time of the twelve hour plane flight. Danny is just here to make sure Steve is in one piece and that whatever went down a month ago is over and done with. Once he’s sure that everything is ok, he’ll go back home and let Steve’s adventure of self-discovery take him wherever it will.
“You are one hundred percent correct, monkey, which is why I am going to find your uncle and talk some sense into him.”
“Danno, it’s not that I’m not… like... ugh… I guess what I’m saying is I’m really glad I got to see you—” She chews on a french fry, face uncertain “—but are you sure this is the best plan? Steve seemed really adamant about you staying in Hawaii. He was pretty weird about it last time I talked to him, to be honest.”
Danny tries to ignore the cold feeling that washes over him. His mind races back over all the awkward texts and the long bouts of radio silence, and comes to some alarming conclusions. He has to accept the possibility that Steve will not be happy to see him, and it is almost too awful to contemplate.
“Weird how?” Danny asks, chest gone tight.
“I dunno. Just, like he was going on about how great it was that you were doing so well. He was super not subtle about trying to get information out of me, and kept asking about whether you were still working. He even asked if you were seeing anyone. I know how much he pushed you to get back together with mom, but I had to tell him about Mickey. He just went kind of quiet after that.”
Grace’s shoulders slump guiltily, and Danny isn’t sure what to make of this new information that apparently Steve has been keeping tabs on him in such an unnecessarily underhanded way.
“All of these things I would have gladly told him myself if he had just called,” Danny says, reaching out to reassure her. “I guess I should be happy that he’s at least talking to you.”
“Steve really misses you Danno, but I think he’s afraid to let you know how much. He doesn’t want you to worry, and he just wants you to be happy.”
“I was happy when I had my daughter at home where I could keep an eye on her, and when I had my best friend there to help me raise my two ridiculous children.” Danny tries for levity, but knows he’s missed the mark when Grace’s smile dims.
“I won’t be in college forever Danno, and I’m coming home for Christmas, remember? Steve will come back too—you know he’ll never find someone else to put up with him the way you do.”
Danny sighs. He has to admit, if only to himself, that the last part is probably true.
“You’re really smart, you know that?” Danny says, and steals a handful of fries from her plate while she pretends not to see. “And while I hope you’re right that Steve will come home, he said there’s nothing left tying him to Hawaii. So we shouldn’t get our hopes up.”
“Don’t be so negative Danno,” Grace chides, in the somewhat condescending tone Danny wishes she’d never learned from Steve. “And of course I’m smart. I’m the daughter of at least one pretty great detective,” she continues with an impish grin. “But sometimes I think he misses some big clues.”
“You’re hilarious.” Danny frowns, and steals the last french fry in retaliation.
The boarding announcement interrupts them before Danny can think of how best to dispute her assessment, and he’s stuck letting her have the last word unless he wants to make the conversation even more drawn out.
Grace kindly lets him off the hook rather than expecting him to admit that he wants Steve to think of Danny as a reason to come home. Her empathy for others is one of the things he’s most proud of, and when she gives him another hug goodbye, he actually feels a bit better about everything.
“Go find Uncle Steve,” she pushes him towards the boarding gate with an impatient shove. “And when you see him, tell him the truth—he needs to hear it.”
Before Danny can protest that it’s not so simple, nor so black and white, the flight attendant takes his pass from him, and ushers him through the security gate.
“Be good, Danno loves you,” he manages to say before the queue takes him too far away.
“Love you too Danno, and I’ll see you in a few weeks,” Grace shouts after him, waving madly.
Next Part - Coming Soon
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