Chapter Text
Danny Williams rode the elevator up to the roof of the restaurant with his daughter, Grace, to meet the rest of the Five-0 team for a celebratory dinner after wrapping their last case. Even though he had hated Roy Parrish for taking him and Steve hostage and threatening to kill him while Grace was listening, he had still connected with the desperate father who risked it all to clear his name for his own daughter. More than anything, Danny was a father first, and he would do anything to protect his little girl.
The elevator door opened and he and Grace made their way over to the big party table where he could see Lou Grover, Kamekona, Chin, Kono, Catherine, and Steve. A chorus of “Hey! Hey! Hey, look who made it!” rang out to greet them as they approached the table. Kono, ever the attentive auntie, patted the seat next to her and said, “Hey, Grace, I got a seat right here for you!” Danny couldn’t help but smile. It warmed his heart how the rest of the team had accepted Grace into their circle with open arms.
Steve, who was clearly already well on his way to drunk, called out, “Yeah! Sit down, guys. Help us finish off these pu-pu’s.” He waved expansively to the platters of appetizers littering the table.
Danny took his seat in the empty chair next to Steve and subtly scooted further away from the man. “Yeah, I don’t, uh, think that sounds right to me, still, to this day,” he brushed off his partner’s offer.
Grace picked up a chicken skewer with her bruised hand and Catherine exclaimed, “Whoa! That is some serious bruising you got there!”
His precious, darling girl, who definitely did not get her mouth from him, replied cockily, “You should see the other guy.”
As the table erupted into laughter, Steve stood unsteadily to his feet and announced, “Okay, I’m gonna go get another round.” Glancing down at the detective, he added, “Danny, come for a walk.”
He tried to ignore the curl of pleasure that unfurled in his gut that Steve had chosen him instead of Catherine, but it was nothing doing. With his suit of sarcastic armor fully in place, he shot back, “Do you need me to pay for it?”
Glancing back over his shoulder, Steve replied, “Nah, I’ve got Catherine’s Amex.”
Standing to his feet, Danny replied drily, “Oh. Nice.” Catching Grace’s eye, he added, “Be right back.”
He followed Steve to the bar while surreptitiously checking out his partner’s ass. Steve looked damn fine in a suit. It wasn’t often that Danny was afforded the opportunity of seeing Steve in anything more than a tee shirt and cargo pants, so when he had arrived and saw Steve outfitted in a gray suit with a crisp, white button-down shirt open at the collar, he’d had to swallow the drool that pooled in his mouth. Part of his pleasure at seeing Steve dressed like this was soured, though, when the thought crossed his mind that Catherine likely had something to do with it. He clenched his jaw against the unwelcome scene his imagination unfolded of Steve and Catherine getting ready for tonight, together, in Steve’s bedroom. He shook away the stab of jealousy and sidled up next to his partner at the bar.
Hailing the bartender, Steve called out, “Hey, uh, can I have three more of these, please?” Fishing a wad of cash out of his pocket, he turned to Danny and said, “And, uh, what are you drinking?”
Danny’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead as he watched Steve flip through his cash. “I will have a Longboard. Wow.” Glancing back at the table, he added, “Yeah, a Longboard and a Shirley Temple for my date.”
Steve threw down some cash, and Danny observed, “You got money. That’s amazing.”
Rising to the bait, Steve insisted, “Yeah, I work. I make money.”
Danny couldn’t help but feel lighter as the two men easily fell into their typical routine of banter. Picking up the bills laying on the bar, Danny held it up to the light to see if the currency was real.
Steve retrieved his money from Danny and put it back on the bar with an amused quirk of his lips. “Don’t touch it.” Their eyes met and they swapped goofy grins. “You’re welcome,” Steve prompted his partner.
“Oh, thank you very much,” Danny countered as they turned in unison to watch the gathering back at the table as Steve echoed again, “You’re welcome.”
Comfortable silence descended between the two men as they took in the scene at the table. Of course, Danny’s eyes, as always, were riveted on his daughter who was laughing at something Kono was saying. Grace was so beautiful, even with her uneven mix of baby and adult teeth, and he loved that she was making a family with him here on the island.
As if echoing his partner’s thoughts, Steve’s voice broke into his reverie. “She’s a great kid, Danny.”
The sentiment took Danny aback for a second. Not that he thought Steve didn’t love Grace, but he had just assumed that Steve was watching Catherine. You know, his date. Recovering quickly, Danny added, “Yeah, she’s got a mean right cross, too.”
He could see Steve turn to look at him out of the corner of his eye, but he kept his gaze firmly fixed on his daughter. It wouldn’t do to get lost in Steve’s hazel gaze. That way lay madness and a whole host of emotions that Danny could do without.
Steve opened his mouth to say something else, but the bartender interrupted by placing their drinks on the bar and collecting the money Steve had lain left there. As she handed the change back to Steve, Danny darted in to rescue a $10 bill from Steve’s hand and gave it back to the hard-working woman. Her smile spread across her face with slow appreciation and Danny winked at her as Steve roughly elbowed him.
“What did you do that for? I was going to tip her,” Steve protested, his eyebrows drawn down in pique as he wrangled three of the glasses.
Danny picked up his frosty bottle of beer and the glass of syrupy soda with cherries floating in it and replied lightly, “Sorry, babe. I just don’t trust you when it comes to parting with cash.”
Steve sighed heavily. “You’re never going to let that go, are you? You’re like a dog with a bone, seriously.”
Danny just shot him an amused grin in reply as they reached the table. He handed Grace her drink and pretended not to notice that Steve’s chair had somehow been moved closer to Catherine’s in their absence which left a noticeable distance between his own chair and Steve’s. He filed the information away to add to all the other little things about the woman that had gotten under his skin since Steve had brought her onboard the team officially. What was one more little annoyance to him? It wasn’t like he could do anything about it anyway.
Steve handed out the drinks, but ignored Catherine’s invitation to regain his seat. Instead, he stood close to Danny’s chair and addressed the youngest attendee. “So, Grace Face, your Danno here tells me that you have a mean right cross. I want to hear all the details.”
Grace’s face lit up with excitement as she eagerly recounted the tale for her riveted admirers. Steve, apparently thrilled with the tale, even insisted that Grace demonstrate how she threw the punch. For the next ten minutes, his goofball partner instructed Danny’s impressionable 11 year old daughter on how to position her fingers to form a tight fist and the best placement for her knuckles to achieve optimal damage on her opponent. Danny felt like he should interrupt his partner’s eager tutoring, especially since Grace was soaking up the knowledge like a greedy sponge, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to disrupt their fun. Watching Steve interact with Grace was one of his favorite things in the world. It was clear to anyone with eyes that the two of them were thick as thieves, and he was pretty sure that Grace harbored a secret crush on his partner, the former SEAL.
“Like father, like daughter,” Danny mumbled to himself distractedly.
Steve glanced up from where he was crouched next to Grace. “What was that, Danny?”
The blonde detective raised his eyebrows in innocence and shook his head. “What? I didn’t say anything.”
He caught Kono’s shrewd gaze and ignored her unspoken question by turning to Grover to strike up a conversation. The next few hours sped by as they laughed and talked, ate and drank. Danny had switched to water after the first beer, though, cognizant of his responsibility of getting Grace back home safely. Steve, however, was thoroughly enjoying his alcohol, much to Catherine’s obvious annoyance. When she had tried to step in and gently remind the inebriated Commander that he’d had enough, he’d brushed her off by saying, “I’m a big boy, Cath. I know what my limits are. Besides, Danny’s driving me home, so it’s all good.”
Danny was taken by surprise by these turn of events and he turned to shoot his partner a questioning glance. Catherine was apparently surprised, too. “But, Steve, we drove here together,” she reminded him, her frosty tone barely masked by the forced smile on her face.
Steve knocked back the rest of his whiskey on the rocks and slammed the glass down on the table. “You picked me up in your car, Cath. There’s no point in you driving me all the way back home when Danny lives closer to my place than you do.”
The entire table went silent as their audience watched this strange scene take place. Just when it was getting entirely too awkward, Kono cleared her throat. “Hey, uh, Danny? Grace and I were just talking about hitting the beach tomorrow for some surfing lessons. You mind if she comes to my place tonight for a girls’ slumber party?”
Danny frowned. He coveted his time with Grace jealously, and he was none too excited about his baby swimming in the same water as man-eating sharks. Before he could squash the plan, though, Grace batted her eyelashes, clasped her hands, and begged, “Pleeeeease, Danno? I packed my bathing suit and everything!”
A thump to his shoulder diverted him and he turned to see Steve grinning ear to ear. “Yeah, Danno. Let ‘er go. She’s in good hands with Kono.”
Danny threw his hands up with exasperation. “Looks like I’m outnumbered here. Fine, we’ll get your bag out of the Camaro on the way out, but I want you to stick to Kono like glue in the water, you hear me?”
Grace nodded enthusiastically before turning back to her conspirator to whisper and giggle excitedly. The sound of a chair’s legs scraping back gained everyone’s attention again. Cath stood to her feet, her purse clutched in her hands, and smiled grimly. “Well, I think I’ll call it a night. I’m exhausted.”
Steve nodded and grinned, oblivious to the expectation that he should walk her out. With natural grace and charm, Lou rose to his feet and said, “The little woman will be looking for me if I don’t head home. Come on, Catherine. I’ll walk you out.”
Cath took a deep breath and accepted gratefully before turning back to say her goodbyes to each person by name, conveniently leaving Danny out. He hoped no one else had noticed, but by the uncomfortable looks being traded between Kono and Chin, he knew his hopes were in vain.
The party was quick to break up after that. Kamekona left next, escorted by Chin who was good-naturedly listening to a business pitch by the crafty entrepreneur. Danny flagged down their server, requested to-go containers for the leftover food, and stood to his feet. “I’m just going to the bar to make sure our tabs have been settled before we go,” he explained before beating a hasty retreat from the table.
Back at the bar, he flagged down the pretty woman who had shamelessly flirted with him throughout the evening ever since he left her that tip. Danny loved to flirt. In fact, he considered himself to be a master at it with women and men both. His natural ability to read people made him an excellent detective, but it made him an even better flirt. He enjoyed the games, the innuendos, and the flash of laughter he could pull from people by turning up the charm. He had learned from a young age that his height, or lack thereof, put him at a distinct disadvantage in attracting potential mates, but his quick wits and charisma had more than made up the difference.
It hadn’t taken him long to learn her name, and she was giving off all the right vibes. If he was lucky, his long dry spell just might be broken by the sexy bartender. She laughed as he teased her about her uniform before pulling an ink pen from her pocket and grabbing a napkin. Danny couldn’t hide the grin that crept up his face as he watched her write her phone number in elegant script. Before she could finish, though, Danny felt a familiar arm thrown over his shoulder before he was pulled roughly into someone’s body.
Steve’s alcohol-fueled breath wafted across his cheek as his partner purred, “What’s taking you so long, babe? Gracie is ready to go, and we need to get back home. I’m ready for bed, aren’t you?”
Danny’s nostrils flared as he watched the bartender’s eyes widen before narrowing to angry slits. Without another word, she plucked the napkin up, wadded it into a ball, and threw it in the trash as she walked away. His temper flared as Steve laughed and clapped him on the back like it was the funniest joke in the world. Danny didn’t trust himself to speak at the moment, too many witnesses, so he contented himself with flinging Steve’s arm off his shoulder and stalking away.