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The alarm sounded way too loudly and Danny groaned as he quickly rolled over to turn it off. He really hoped he’d stopped it before it woke Steve. With their baby due any day, Steve had been having trouble sleeping. “Have Grace sit on your bladder all night and see how much sleep you get,” Steve had groused to him more than once. Danny had soothed him as well as he could with kisses and warm milk until Steve was able to get back to sleep.
Danny slipped out of their bed and made his sleepy way down the hallway. Grace was staying with them, to Danny and Steve’s delight, while Rachel and Stan were away on a business trip. Danny had objected to them taking Grace out of school. He would have insisted that Charlie stay too but with the baby so close, he had to agree with Rachel that it was easier for Charlie to be with his parents.
Danny slipped into Grace’s room, crossing over to her bed, finding it disturbingly empty. He looked down at the pillow, confusion painted on his face. He crouched down to check below her bed, knowing it was doubtful she was hiding underneath.
Not finding her in her bedroom, he went to the bathroom. But the door was open and there was no sign of her. He went downstairs, checking all the rooms. A quick look outside confirmed she wasn’t there either. Panic started bubbling up as he rushed back up the stairs.
“Steve,” he said as he entered their bedroom. “Steve. I’m sorry to wake you up.” Danny was pulling on his jeans as Steve blinked sleepy eyes and very slowly sat up. The sheet made a big tent over him, not hiding the baby. Steve couldn’t sleep in clothes. He ended up fighting them off, the restriction making him struggle.
“What’s wrong?” he croaked, rubbing his eyes to try and wake up the rest of the way.
“I can’t find Grace,” Danny said, pulling on his tee shirt before rushing out.
“What?” Steve said, lumbering out of bed. With great effort, Steve leaned over enough to get a triple-X shirt out of his drawer. Kamekona had given him a supply, for which Steve was more grateful than he could really say. Once he had on the triple-X sweatpants, he waddled out of the bedroom. “Danny?” he said as he carefully descended the steps, holding tight to the banister. He couldn’t see his feet or the risers and unconsciously worried he’d tumble down them. “Danno?”
“She’s not here, Steve. She’s gone and I don’t know where,” Danny said from where he was squatting in the open door to the backyard. “There are footprints here. I think they are hers.”
“Just hers?” Steve asked, leaning over as much as he could. But he couldn’t really see the footprints that Danny was pointing out. He couldn’t get close enough.
“Just hers. But where is she?” Danny asked, standing abruptly and going down toward the ocean.
“What are you doing?” Steve asked as Danny pulled off his tee shirt.
“I’m going to find her,” Danny said as if it made all kinds of sense.
“I’ll call Chin and ask him to fly over. You morph into a dog so you can track her,” Steve said, going back into the house.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that,” Danny said, morphing into the familiar Golden Retriever as Steve dialed Chin. Danny sniffed the ground, following the scent in a circuitous route around the yard.
“Chin, it’s me. We can’t find Grace. Can you fly over?”
“She’s missing?” Chin asked. That he was upset was clear from his voice.
“Danny went to wake her up and she wasn’t in her room,” Steve said, guessing the details from the information that Danny had given him. “He’s gone canine and is sniffing her out.”
“I’m on my way,” Chin said, the conversation over.
Steve slowly made his way over to where Danny was tracking in the yard. He was standing beneath a tree, sniffing the ground before looking up through the leaves.
“Was she here?” Steve asked, placing a steadying hand on the tree to look up at the limbs.
Danny barked once, circling the tree and returning to where he had been standing. In the blink of an eye, he turned from a golden dog to a squirrel, scampering up the tree. It wasn’t long before he ran back down, returning to a dog. With his nose close to the ground, he circled the house, Steve following as quickly as he could. He wished he’d taken the time to put on his shoes as he tramped through the grass but that would have taken another half an hour.
Danny was in the driveway, his nose nearly buried in the dirt. He barked, Steve going over to join him.
“What’d you find?” Steve asked, unable to resist the urge to scratch Danny’s ear. His hand ended up on top of Danny’s head when he turned back to Human.
“It stops here,” Danny said, an urgent note in his voice. “I can’t find any trace of her after this.”
“Chin’s on his way,” Steve said, giving him a pair of shorts he’d brought with him in case Danny decided to turn back.
“I don’t understand where she could be,” Danny said, pulling on the shorts. “I don’t smell anyone else. Just Grace. But where is she?”
“I wish I knew,” Steve said, looking over the yard as though that would help them find her. “She wouldn’t have just left.”
“Not helping,” Danny said with a frown.
“I’m sorry. You’re right,” Steve said, rubbing over his distended stomach. He didn’t regret being pregnant but he would be very glad when he was back to his normal Human body.
“Baby okay?” Danny asked as he paced restlessly.
“She’s fine,” Steve assured him. “She’s asleep.”
“Just like Grace should be,” Danny said. He let Steve gather him into his arms, pulling him as close as the baby would allow. “Where is she?”
“We’ll find her,” Steve said. “Chin will be here soon. She would not have run away.”
“Which means she could have been abducted,” Danny said, fear in his voice.
“You don’t smell anyone else, Danno. She hasn’t been abducted.”
“Then where is she?” Danny demanded into Steve’s shoulder.
“Hey Danno,” Grace called from inside the house. Steve and Danny tensed, rushing into the house, Danny much faster than Steve.
“Monkey, where have you been?” Danny demanded, squatting down to look closely at her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Grace said with a smile. “Watch.” With that, she morphed from Human to a beautiful brown horse, neighing happily at them.
“No horses in the house,” Steve said, laughing at himself.
“You can morph,” Danny said in delight, petting her soft nose. “That is excellent news, baby.”
She neighed at them again, going from horse to a chocolate lab.
“I see,” Danny laughed. “You are land mammals.”
The dog barked, wagging her tail at Danny.
“Change back,” Danny requested, holding her shirt and shorts. Grace took her clothes in her mouth, going into the bathroom, very quickly returning to them as an adorable little girl.
“I can morph, Daddies, just like you can,” she said, dancing in excitement.
“We’re very happy about that, baby,” Danny said, sitting on the arm of the couch. “But I was really worried when I woke up this morning and couldn’t find you.”
“Oh,” Grace said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I was excited. I forgot.”
“I understand,” Danny assured her, giving her a kiss. “Next time, tell us, okay?”
“I will, Danno. I’m sorry.”
“I know. The first time is so exciting, you forget everything else,” Danny told her.
“Did you forget?” she asked, sounding less unhappy.
“I did. I turned into a dog and ran through the snow because I could. Grandma and Grandpa saw the tracks and knew what had happened,” Danny said.
“I’ll tell you next time, I promise,” Grace said.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Danny said. “Run up and get ready for school. I’ll make pancakes.”
“Okay,” Grace agreed, running upstairs.
Danny glanced over at Steve who was looking up the stairs where Grace had disappeared. “What?” Danny asked.
“Are you going to give her the rules?” Steve asked, waddling behind Danny as he went into the kitchen.
“Of course. Over pancakes,” Danny assured him. “But she’s a very good girl. She’s not going to morph without letting us know.”
“Does this mean she’s gotten her period?” Steve asked Danny quietly.
“Oh,” Danny said, still bent over intent on getting the pancake grill out of the cabinet. “I didn’t think to ask her.”
“Go up and talk to her,” Steve advised.
“Yeah,” Danny said, putting the grill on the counter. “We’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Right,” Steve said, getting the ingredients out for pancakes. There were a lot of things he couldn’t currently do but he could mix up pancakes.
Danny went upstairs, knocking on the open door to Grace’s room. She was braiding her hair, smiling over at her father. “Hey,” Grace said.
“Now that you can morph, have you started your period?” he asked, seeing no point in circling the topic.
“Oh Daddy,” Grace said with a laugh.
“What? What oh Daddy?” he asked, frowning in confusion.
“I got it four months ago. I thought Mom would have told you,” Grace said.
“She didn’t,” Danny said.
“You don’t have to have the talk with me, Danno. It’s all taken care of. I have supplies in the bathroom. I thought you would have noticed.”
“I thought I would have too. But with the baby and everything going on, I guess I missed it.”
“I understand,” Grace said. “You don’t spend a lot of time in my bathroom.”
“True,” Danny agreed. “All right. Come down when you’re ready. Steve is making the pancakes.”
“I’ll be right down,” Grace assured him, leaping up to hug and kiss him. “I’m so happy I can morph.”
“Me too, baby. Me too.” When Danny got to the kitchen, Steve was giving Chin a plate of pancakes. Chin was wearing one of Steve’s regular tee shirts and a pair of his boardies. “Thanks for coming,” Danny said.
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad everything’s okay,” Chin said, sipping his coffee.
“Me too,” Danny said. “You want me to finish?”
“No. I’m okay,” Steve said, looking over his shoulder at Danny after flipping the pancakes on the grill. “What did Grace say?”
“She started her period four months ago,” Danny said. “She has stuff here but I never noticed.”
“I saw it in her bathroom,” Steve said. “But I thought Mary had left it.”
“Makes sense,” Chin said. “Cuz,” he said when Kono rushed into the kitchen.
“What the hell? Grace is missing and you are having pancakes?” she demanded, breathless and winded.
“I’m not missing,” Grace told her as she entered the kitchen. “But I can morph.”
“You can?” Kono said in delight, high-fiving her. “Good job. What’s your range?”
“Land mammals, I think. I tried seals but it didn’t happen,” Grace said with a shrug.
“Land mammals is very cool,” Kono assured her. “How are you, Boss?”
“Besides being as big as a beached whale?” Steve asked, giving Grace a plate of pancakes.
“Not,” Kono said, shaking her head. “You look fabulous.”
“Thank you,” Steve said, doubt in his voice. “I’m ready to be a father to her and not her incubator.”
“You love it and you know it,” Danny said, reaching up on his toes to kiss him.
“Eat your pancakes,” Steve scolded lightly, giving him a plate piled high.