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"Where is he?" Steve asked, leaning on the door frame. Danny looked up at him grimly, before his eyes rose to the stairs.
"In his room," He replied. "I thought it best to give him some space."
"I'll go talk to him," Steve said with a nod.
"Don't force him if he doesn't want to," Danny said, Steve raised a hand and nodded in agreement.
"I know, I won't," Steve promised. "But I do think I need to assure him he isn't letting anyone down, even though that's how he will feel."
"He's got his whole life ahead of him," Danny sighed, standing up and walking over to him. "But he had his heart set-."
"Yeah, it's tough," Steve said, pulling him close. "I think he's more upset about knowing he won't ever be accepted more than he is the news about his health."
"Well I know what I'm more worried about," Danny said.
"Malia says it's nothing to worry about," Steve reminded him. "Easily monitored, he can learn to handle it alone. Plenty of things we can be doing."
"Yeah but still," Danny replied, pulling away and glancing up at him. "He's our baby boy."
"Mhmm, and he's going to be fine," Steve nodded, leaning down for a kiss. "He just needs to come to terms with the fact he won't ever be in the Navy."
"Tell me something," Danny said, looking him in the eye. "If someone walked up to your fifteen year old self and told you that you'd never be allowed to join because of some medical condition you've only just found out about, would you have taken the news easily?"
"No," Steve admitted with a shake of his head. "You know I wouldn't."
"So go easy on him, let him get angry, let him be upset," Danny told him. "Plenty of time for us to be all wise and fatherly to him when the time comes."
~
Steve tapped on the door to his youngest sons room before giving it a small push. DJ was at the window, knees curled up to his chest, staring out over the beach with a melancholy look on his face. He barely glanced around as Steve crossed the room.
"Hey, you okay?" Steve asked, sitting down beside him, a hand on his shoulder.
"Fine," DJ replied sharply. "Don't want to talk about it."
"Ok," Steve nodded in understanding. "I get that. I get why you're upset and I get why you're angry son."
"Just not fair," DJ said with a shake of his head. "It isn't fair Pop. MJ, he gets to do what he wanted, Luka got what he wanted. How come I don't?"
"Because sometimes life sucks and we can't do anything about it," Steve pointed out to him. "There'll be other careers, other things you can do with your life that will make a difference."
"But I wanted to be like you," DJ said, looking at him with glassy eyes. "I wanted to make you proud."
Steve smiled at the sentiment and cupped his face gently. "You don't have to be in the Navy to make me proud son. I'm proud of all my boys, whatever you do with your lives as long as you're decent people, long as you know right from wrong."
"I never wanted to do anything else," DJ sighed, pulling his face away and looking outside again. "I don't know what to do now."
"DJ, you're fifteen years old. You got plenty of time to decide," Steve smiled, leaning in and kissing his sons hair. "You take your time. It'll come to you. You've set your sights for so long on the Navy, you've never really considered anything else. Well now is your chance."
~ two months later ~
"I decided," DJ declared as he sat down to supper. Danny handed him a plate and gave him a frown.
"On what? Coming to eat versus staying cooped up in that pit you call a room?" Danny asked him.
"On what I want to do," DJ replied with a grin. "With my life."
"You don't have a life dweeb," Luka teased as he handed him the potato salad.
"Get lost dork," DJ rolled his eyes at him, turning back to Danny and Steve who were waiting for the explanation. "I'm going to join the HPD. If I work hard at it, I might even get into 5-0."
"Yeah right, like they'll let you in," Luka began but his younger brother cut him off quickly.
"I did some research," DJ explained. "It's basically a case by case review, but there are officers in the force with type 1 and they manage fine. If I pass the tests and prove I can do it, I'll get in. It isn't a definite no."
"But it isn't a definite yes either," Danny warned him.
"I have a chance, which is more than I have with the Navy," DJ said, looking earnestly at them. "What do you think?"
"I think you need to think long and hard about it," Steve said solemnly. "You've got a couple of years yet, you might change your mind."
"I won't," DJ shook his head firmly.
Danny gave a small smile but didn't say anything and Steve helped himself to some of the chicken from the bowl.
"Dad?" DJ pressed when Danny stayed quiet on the subject. "What do you think?"
"I think you should eat your supper before it gets cold," Danny told him. "Come on. Lu, what time you leaving tomorrow?"
"Coach leaves at eight thirty," Luka replied. "You guys coming?"
"Yeah we'll be there," Steve confirmed with a smile. "Surprised you're here tonight, I thought you'd be spending all your time with Claire."
"She's at a family dinner for her grandma," Luka replied with a smile. "I was gonna go over to MJ's later."
"You need an early night," Danny reminded him.
"I know, I won't be out late," Luka assured him.
"Can I go?" DJ asked hopefully.
"Nope," Steve replied with a shake of his head.
"Aww come on pop," DJ whined. "It isn't fair, they get to hang out all the time."
"They are old enough to hang out late, you can join in when your eighteen," Steve retorted.
DJ scowled and picked at his food sullenly.
"Hey DJ, how about tomorrow afternoon after the competition, we all go to the cove for a couple of hours," Luka suggested. "Just the three of us?"
"Yeah? You mean it?" DJ perked up. "Can I Pop? Dad?"
"Fine by me," Steve smiled.
"Sounds like a plan," Danny agreed also.
~
"You were a little tight lipped about DJ's decision tonight," Steve said as he and Danny curled up on the couch watching a movie. DJ was in his room and Luka was still out at MJ's.
Danny didn't reply, choosing instead to find a button on Steve's shirt intensely interesting.
"D?" Steve encouraged, rubbing a hand along his arm.
"Took me long enough to get my head around him wanting to join the Navy. Then we get the news he's got diabetes. Now he decides he wants to be in the Police Force. It's just a lot to handle all at once," Danny admitted, cuddling into Steve further. "I've been a cop all my life. I wanted to clean up the streets to protect my family. The things we've done and seen – equating that with my fifteen year old son wanting to be part of it. Why can't he want to be something less dangerous?"
"MJ works crime scenes and Luka rides waves," Steve reminded him. "None of our boys have an aversion to a little danger."
"I blame you," Danny informed him. "The couvade gene they got from me. The attraction to danger I blame on you. All on you."
"We need to support him Danny," Steve said in thought. "Would you be disappointed if he joined the force?"
"Course not," Danny replied with a shake of his head. "I'm proud of all my boys, whatever they do."
"You need to make sure he knows that," Steve told him.
"I'll talk to him," Danny promised. "Just gimme tonight to live in hope he'll wake up tomorrow and want to own a catering business like his uncle Kamekona."
"Well, miracles do happen," Steve smirked in amusement.
~
"Hey, come in here, I want to talk to you," Danny said as DJ stuck his head through the lanai door to see where everyone was. Danny was nursing himself through his first coffee of the day.
"Sup," DJ said, sitting down at the table.
"Just wanted to talk to you about what you said at the table last night," Danny said. "I wasn't exactly fair in avoiding your question."
"You don't like the idea of me joining do you," DJ said warily.
"Honestly," Danny said, looking him in the eye. "No – and yes."
DJ frowned and looked at him expectantly.
"Look you're my baby okay," Danny pointed out, laughing when DJ grimaced. "I'm sorry but it's true. It's bad enough you all have to grow up, that you begin making decisions and living your life independently. If you ever have kids, you'll know how it feels when that happens. So no, the idea of your joining the force doesn't fill me with glee, because the stuff I see, the cases I work, it's tough okay. It's hard and difficult and I do it to protect my family, so the idea of you being involved in that world is hard to accept."
DJ gave a nod of understanding, "But you were okay with me wanting to join the Navy."
"Well, yeah, after I let the idea sink in," Danny admitted. "Which took time. A long time. I argued with Steve about it for months. Again, I didn't want you in that because it's a tough life. But I'd have been so proud of you as well. And like I said – I'm half and half on this. No I don't want you to be a cop and yes, it'd make me proud to see you join up and make a go of it. Like you said, if you stick with it, work hard, learn, grow, then you could make it into 5-0, or the FBI or whichever agency you wanted to be part of. It's tough, it's hard and there'll be setbacks. Plus, you aren't exactly starting on an equal footing to the other people trying to make it – your health will cause setbacks and you can't lie to yourself about that. First and foremost, I want you to be healthy. I can't fix this diabetes, but we can make sure we're armed with all the information we need to control it."
"So you're happy for me," DJ asked for confirmation.
"I'm getting there," Danny said honestly. "I mean MJ is a criminologist, took me time to get my head around that, knowing what he'd be seeing and exposed to. Luka's given me plenty of grey hairs over years with scares as he tries to master the waves. So be patient with your old man and his need to protect his babies until he realises they are quite capable of standing on their own two feet and be independent."
"We're not babies," DJ kindly pointed out, to which Danny smiled in amusement shaking his head at him.
"You'll always be my babies," He corrected.
~ Three Years Later ~
Steve and Danny glanced at one another as a loud yell of joy occurred from the living room. Danny frowned, Steve watched the door as DJ made an appearance, letter in hand, grinning like a goof. He placed the letter down before Danny.
"I got in," He declared, looking proud of himself.
Danny picked up the letter, glancing at the letter head, Remington College, Honolulu and smiled, reading over the familiar wording he remembered from MJ's acceptance letter.
"Fantastic," Steve said standing and pulling his youngest in for a bear hug embrace. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks Pop," DJ laughed, hugging him tight.
"Me too," Danny agreed, pulling him close when Steve let go of him. "This is great news, I knew you could do it."
"I'm gonna go call MJ," DJ declared, grabbing the letter and pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "And Lu. And Grace. Man I can't believe it."
"You doubted you'd get in?" Steve asked him in surprise. DJ was a good kid, had worked with a steadfast determination to get the grades he needed to make it into the college intake.
DJ shrugged, "I didn't know for sure."
He left them with a smile, heading out to the beach to call his brothers and sister.
Steve and Danny sat back down with proud looks on their faces, grinning at one another.
"Guess this is cause for celebration," Steve smiled. "Why don't we try and get the family altogether this weekend?"
"I think that's a great idea," Danny nodded, looking out the window to where DJ had sat on one of the beach chairs, chattering happily into his phone. "Last one is about to fly the nest."
"He won't be quite gone," Steve reminded him. "He'll still be living at home like MJ did when he attended Rem."
"Yeah but still, he's eighteen soon, starting out on his career," Danny said. "Where does that leave us?"
Steve smiled and reached over to hold his hand, "I'm sure we'll think of something to fill in the quiet times."
"Golf?" Danny suggested with a grin.
"I was thinking of something closer to home," Steve laughed.
"We're a little old to be chasing the waves like our middle son Steven," Danny teased.
"Rather be chasing you round the bedroom," Steve pointed out.
"Why does everything come down to sex with you?" Danny smiled, squeezing his fingers. "You'd think in your old age you'd have mellowed."
"You wouldn't want me any other way Daniel," Steve pointed out. "We may be getting older but there's life in the smooth dog yet."
Danny snorted and had to agree, considering Steve still managed to help him get his dick up. Age hadn't diminished their sex drive.
~ Five Years Later ~
"Well, any word?" Danny asked Steve as he got off the phone.
Steve gave a shrug and shook his head, "They're staying tight lipped. Can't say I blame them, we can't expect special treatment Danny."
"I'm not expecting special treatment," Danny pointed out. "Even if we did help develop and build that unit to what it is today."
"You know he'd hate it if he found out we were snooping," Steve smiled, putting an arm around Danny's shoulder. "If he gets in, he gets in and he wants to do that off his own merit, not using his parents as leverage."
"I know, which is why I've held off calling in favours even though we are owed more than our fair share," Danny sighed. "It'd just be nice to have some confirmation."
"Well if it were me still running the show, from a purely professional stand point, looking at his files they'd be crazy not to take him," Steve said before pausing. "The only thing I'd be concerned about would be his health, but he's more than proven he can handle that much like he handles everything else that tries to trip him up."
"He'll be crushed if he loses out on the position," Danny said. DJ was twenty two, a college graduate in criminal justice and now a rookie cop. 5-0 positions were few and far between for rookies, but they took on a couple every year as well as more grounded, experienced officers. They made them work for the position and DJ, who'd set his heart on 5-0 about the same time he'd turned his career prospects to being a cop had applied knowing the odds were against him simply because his fathers had founded 5-0. If anything that made it tougher, because he had to prove every step of the way he wasn't using them in any way to get where he was and his health was also a factor in how far he could go.
"There'll be other opportunities along the way," Steve said wisely. "If he doesn't get it now, he stays with HPD, and can try again when he's got some experience under his belt."
"I just want it for him," Danny said as they made their way outside and began walking along the beach. "He's had to make a lot of changes for a young kid. He lost out on the Navy, decided to go to college before rookie school just in case they wouldn't take him. His health doesn't do him any favours."
"He graduated with honours, he got accepted into the academy, made it through the process," Steve reminded him. "He's fully aware of the odds."
"Yeah, I know," Danny sighed, pulling away a little and instead taking Steve's hand as they walked. "Hey did Luka talk to you today? He said he wanted to speak to us both when he had a chance."
"Yeah, I think he's coming over tonight," Steve said with a nod. "Did he say what about to you?"
"No," Danny shook his head. "Hope it isn't anything too serious."
"MJ seems to be getting quite serious about Maui," Steve smiled.
"Yeah he had a long talk with me yesterday about him," Danny agreed. "I get the feeling he's about to pop the question."
"Taken them long enough," Steve chuckled. "Those two have been dancing around one another for years."
"I thought after Luka and Melanie, MJ would have moved a little faster," Danny smiled. "But that's our boys, always moving at their own speed."
"Just like they should," Steve nodded. "Marching to their own drums and nobody else's."
They paused by the waterline and Danny glanced around. Even so many years on, the landscape hadn't changed, same old houses, albeit with new paint jobs, more greenery and brush. But it wasn't hard to cast his mind back over the years to being fifteen again, living with Marv, hanging out with the gang on the beach. He and Steve still had places that held sentimental memories and the spot where they were was one of them. Their first kiss had occurred along the stretch of beach.
"We marched to our own drums and they took us a long way from one another," Danny sighed, reminiscing.
"Yeah we took the long way round," Steve agreed. "But we came full circle D and now look where we are."
"You think if we went back and spoke to those fifteen year olds, told them in fifty years you'll still be together, they'd believe us?" Danny smiled as Steve turned and put his arms around him.
"Nope," Steve laughed shaking his head. "We were young, stupid, in love and lust. And when you caught that plane, I hated you so much. Well I thought I did. Turned out I just buried down my love because I had no idea how I was supposed to deal with a broken heart at fifteen."
"Think we'd be here, together, if I'd have stayed?" Danny asked in thought.
"I dunno, maybe," Steve shrugged. "Maybe not. People change, feelings change. You'd not have met Rachel, you wouldn't have Grace."
"No, true," Danny had to agree, smiling at the thought of his daughter. "So I nearly screwed things up. But hey, I made up for it right?"
"I'd say making me the happiest man in the world and proudest dad makes up for breaking my heart at fifteen yeah," Steve laughed in agreement.
"See, I'm so very good to you Steven," Danny grinned, pulling him in for a kiss.
"Mhmm," Steve smiled, kissing him briefly and teasing his mouth with his lips as he whispered. "So very, very good Danno."
~ fin ~