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Smoke, so much smoke and the stench of gas as it leaked into the asphalt. The droning scream of a car alarm blared in his ears like a warning signal - 'don't look, just don't, she's gone.'
45 minutes earlier
Grace drummed her fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the music playing on the radio, she settled back in her seat and peered through the windscreen at the stop lights, mentally counting to try and guess when she could go.
Her focus was broken by a monotonous voice interrupting the song, the intercom coming briefly to life to tell her that 'Danno is calling.' Grace grinned and quickly accepted the call, glancing up at the lights once more as her Father's voice filled the vehicle.
"Monkey? You good?" he always sounded concerned when he called her, like she was off getting into trouble from the minute he dropped her back off at her Mom's.
"Danno I'm fine" she insisted with a fond shake of the head "Uncle Chin installing this intercom was meant to make you less paranoid, remember?"
Danny scoffed at the other end of the line "Well that may be, but you've only had your permit for a week and your Mother told me about your little excursion to Diamond Head at the weekend, care to enlighten me?" His tone dripped sweetly with sarcasm, and he knew his daughter wouldn't get into the Diamond Head debate with him after the way Rachel tore into her.
"A week and a half" Grace mumbled, stepping on the gas as the lights finally changed "How am I meant to get used to driving if you and Mom only let me stick to Honolulu?" the teen moaned "I came back in one piece didn't I?"
"I'm not gonna even acknowledge that" Danny told her above the background buzz of 5-0 HQ "Because the concept of you coming back in anything less than one piece isn't okay, you understand me?"
Grace smiled softly, her fist closing round the gear stick as she listened to his worried rants "I love you Danno" she said, and she meant it.
"Don't try and change the subject young lady" her Father warned, but the grin was evident by his voice "But I love you too baby." A deep murmur echoed in the background and Grace chuckled, her eyes narrowed on the road ahead when Danny's voice drifted through the car once more.
"Steven I am on the phone to my daughter and I assure you neither of us needs to hear your Neanderthal tones while we converse."
"Hi Uncle Steve" Grace called out "Need me to give you two a minute?"
Danny sighed, waiting for his partner to say hello to the girl before asking; "Go on then Super SEAL, what's so important?"
"Dispatch called, put out an APB on a silver prius about 5 minutes ago, said the guy had done an armed robbery on a jewellery store in town and he's made off with a bag of big carat diamonds."
"How big we talking?" Danny questioned with curiosity.
Steve let out a slight huff at his lack of focus "Big enough for the guy to shoot the owner and put him on a fast track to the ICU."
"That's horrible!" Grace exclaimed, turning sharply left before she could miss it "Is he gonna be okay?"
"It's too soon to tell" the SEAL said, his voice louder, and Grace realised he must have bent closer to the phone. There was a muffled sound of static and then the teen could hear the men arguing once more.
"Can you not talk about these things with my daughter, please?" Danny asked in disbelief "Just tell me what we need to do and then let me say goodbye."
Steve could be heard checking the magazine of his gun while his partner ranted, and Grace was so busy amusing herself with their bickering that she almost didn't pick up on what her Uncle was saying.
"HPD got him last turning into Kalakaua Avenue, reckon he's trying to take the back routes to the airport."
Grace's stomach jolted and she glanced up at the sign ahead "Err Danno?" she began hesitantly.
"I'm sorry monkey, looks like I have to go deal with this, you let me know when you get home safe okay?"
"Danno!" the girl tried again, her voice rising with tension "I-I'm in Kalakaua Avenue."
Their was a silence at the end of the phone followed by her Father's strained voice "Excuse me? You told your Mother you were heading home, what the heck are you doing out there?"
"I was meeting some friends at the mall but I am on my way home now, I swear!"
"You see, this is why I never wanted you to drive, ever-"
Steve's voice cut through the back and forth as he addressed his niece "Gracie, HPD are coming out to find the guy but while you're there you can help me out alright? Do you see a silver prius? License plate Mary, X-Ray, 6, 5, Adam, Young."
Danny stood staring open-mouthed at his partner, shocked at the audacity of getting his daughter involved in a police pursuit.
"I think I see it up ahead, I can only see a partial plate but I think it matches, the guy's driving like 90 miles an hour!"
Steve nodded seriously, listening carefully to her every word "Alright Gracie good work, we're on our way, you just head home to your Mom alright?"
No reply came and Danny leant over his phone with a frown "Monkey?" he pushed, glancing to his partner who shrugged, his forehead creasing in concern as he called Kono and Chin over and began giving them instructions.
"Danno, you're not gonna get him in time" Grace's voice piped up quietly "He's driving too fast."
Chin raised his eyebrows, already suss to her intentions, as was Danny clearly, who picked up the phone and brought it so close to his mouth he could have taken a bite from it.
"Grace Sophia Williams you are to go nowhere near that car d'you hear me? Nowhere."
"You can stay on the line and tell me what to do while HPD get their back-up ready, c'mon Danno you don't have a choice!" the teen had her eyes fixed on the silver prius as it flew down the street, the roads were clearing in it's path which meant that Grace could easily follow it whilst sticking to the speed limit.
This time it was Steve who shot her down "Not a chance Gracie, the guy's still armed and I'm not taking that risk with you, now pull over and wait for us to get there."
"We're only a few miles from the airport Uncle Steve, if he makes it before anyone stops him then he can wave that gun about and get away without anyone getting justice for the man he shot!"
Danny was massaging the bridge of his nose, his elbows leant on the bench as he listened to his daughter "We will get justice for the man monkey, okay? But it's not your fight and it isn't your job to go after armed robbers-" he froze "Are you revving your engine right now?" he demanded, hearing the growl of it over the phone "Young lady you pull over this second or you're grounded till you're 50."
The revving increased, the purr of the engine seemingly rumbling through the Palace as the 5-O team listened in shock.
"I can run him off the road" the teen's voice was muffled by the car but she was still heard "You're not gonna arrest me for breaking the speed limit right?" she checked.
"Grace stop the car" Danny yelled, and the others looked at him in surprise, he never shouted at his daughter like that.
A squeal of breaks caused the team to wince and draw back from the phone, then a thud from Grace's end as the girl hit at her steering wheel and revved up the engine once more.
"Do I wanna know what just happened?" Danny questioned, his eyes screwed shut "Tell me you pulled over?"
Grace sighed "I caught up to him, went for the drift but he took off and I ended up looking like an idiot."
Her Father turned to his partner and held up a finger "One week, one week she's had her permit and you've already got her using the term drift?" Steve waved him down as they all turned their attention's back to Grace.
"Auntie Kono?" the teen's voice echoed meekly "Am I doing the right thing?"
All eyes turned to the woman and she ran a hand through her hair "We're all so proud of you for wanting to do this, for so readily agreeing to help, but Grace this isn't your fight okay? You need to pull onto the hard shoulder, turn off the engine and wait for someone to come get you."
There was a beat of silence and then a reply, "If you weren't a cop, would you be doing this? Chasing the guy down?"
Kono drew in her lower lip, her shoulders heaving with a sigh as she shot Danny an apologetic glance, she couldn't lie to the girl. "Yeah, I reckon I would be doing the same as you, but you know what? I am a cop, and now I realise how reckless it would be for me to do that."
Duke appeared in the doorway and whistled to Steve, who looked up in relief and patted Danny on the shoulder "Gracie, HPD are here" he told his niece "We're on our way, just hang tight and stay on the line with your Dad."
Before any of them could make a move in the direction of the doors, Danny had taken off after Duke, the phone clutched in his white-knuckled grip.
Kalakaua Avenue was reaching its end and pretty soon Grace would find herself on the highway where the traffic would be a lot more unforgiving to her cause. Up ahead was a line of toll booths, and the teen knew that the guy in the prius wouldn't be stopping. Sure enough he barrelled through them, narrowly missing one of the guards who had to jump back into the booth as he passed.
Resisting the urge to close her eyes, Grace tightened her grip on the wheel, checked her mirror and then took a hard right into the same lane as the perp. Wincing, she too flew through the now broken barrier.
"What was that sound?" Danny demanded, and his daughter glanced momentarily down at the intercom, almost forgetting she was still on call.
"I might have driven through a toll booth" she admitted through gritted teeth, not wanting to think about the damage the jagged barrier would have done to her car.
She heard her Dad groan and in the pit of her stomach the guilt was rising. "Was anyone hurt?" Danny asked weakly, his words almost drowned out by the squeal of car brakes as Steve clearly took a corner too fast.
"No, nobody was hurt" she assured him "They jumped out of the way."
"Oh my God" Danny breathed, disbelief still plaguing his words "Okay, can you still see the guy?"
"Yeah he's up ahead, why?"
"We're coming into Kalakaua Avenue now, we can catch him from here, especially with Uncle Steve driving. This is the end of the road for you, you hear me?"
Silence.
Danny leant forward against his seatbelt "Grace?" he looked over at Steve who briefly took his eyes off the road before returning his focus and pressing down harder on the gas as they flew down the street. Behind them Kono and Chin along with several HPD squad cars were struggling to catch up.
"I think he's stopping" Grace finally spoke, and the moment of relief Danny got from hearing her voice was replaced by the roaring thud of his heart hammering in his ears.
"Gracie get out of there now!" Steve ordered, since Danny was too horror-struck to speak "If he's planning a decamp then he'll draw the gun on anyone in his way."
"If I let him get away on foot you'll never find him!" the teen argued "But, he still hasn't come to a complete stop, I-" she paused, eyes widening as the car finally began its manoeuvre.
Danny lurched forward again "What?" he panicked "What's going on? Grace? Baby talk to me!"
"He's coming back the other way, he's on the wrong side of the road!" the girl was practically screaming as she watched several cars who had overtaken her now swerve off in every direction to avoid the oncoming vehicle.
Steve spoke into his radio to alert HPD, knowing as well that Chin and Kono could listen in too.
Grace looked shakily into her rearview mirror, squinting at the sign for things in the opposite direction. One place in particular caught her eye and she called out to her Father down the phone.
"I think he's heading for the skydiving school, he'll hijack a plane from there easy, especially if he's waving a gun around."
The silver prius was approaching, its speed increasing and pretty soon it would be gone and neither Grace nor 5-0 would be able to stop it. That's when the teen made her split second decision, taking a leaf out of her Uncle Steve's book in the recklessness department, she took a deep breath and spun the steering wheel straight into the speeding car's path.
Danny and Steve were still powering down the road, just passing the toll booth and taking in the destruction when they heard the sickening combo of squealing brakes and the crunching of metal on metal.
The detective's hand flew to his mouth as he felt bile rising in his throat, and that left Steve to call out to his niece.
"Gracie? Gracie can you hear me?" he yelled "GRACE!?"
Silence.
It seemed like hours before the team came to Grace's car, and in an instant they had all bailed out, leaving HPD to provide the back-up and secure the road from other vehicles.
Danny stumbled forward, looking wildly around for his daughter, but there was smoke, so much smoke and the stench of gas as it leaked into the asphalt. The droning scream of a car alarm blared in his ears like a warning signal - 'don't look, just don't, she's gone.'
The man was aware of Kono at his side, her hand gripping his bicep tightly, no doubt to stop him collapsing as he finally clapped eyes on his daughter's car. A strangled cry emitted from his mouth, a guttural sound that made the onlookers turn in shock. The passenger side of Grace's car was caved in, the front of the silver prius embedded in it as smoke billowed from the two.
One shaky step forward was followed by another and that's when he saw her, his monkey, his baby girl - face covered in blood with her body pressed against the driver's door. He felt his knees give way, tried to stop himself from falling to the melody of paramedics approaching the scene. Strong arms gripped the detective round the middle, holding him steady until he could stand.
"I've got you buddy, I've got you" he heard Steve's voice in his ear and squeezed his eyes shut, allowing the tears to slide down his cheeks.
The clock on the wall of the waiting room had stopped, it had definitely stopped and that's what Danny kept telling himself as he watched nurse after nurse and doctor after doctor pass by without giving him any indication as to whether or not his daughter was even still alive.
Kono stepped into the room with an apologetic grimace as three hopeful faces looked up at her, the woman held her phone aloft "HPD are on their way to find Rachel, said she wasn't at the house when they called."
Danny nodded dumbly in thanks, running a hand through his hair as he leaned heavily into Steve's side.
"And from what I hear our guy is set for a lucky escape so we can get him booked as soon as the hospital release him" Kono added in a murmur as she sunk into a chair beside her cousin.
"And my daughter dies?" Danny demanded, his voice cracking "That scumbag gets to keep breathing after what he did?!"
Steve held him down as he struggled to stand, fists clenched as it was clear where he was planning on going. "You're not gonna help Gracie by getting yourself locked up, are you?" the SEAL explained quietly "She needs you Danno."
The detective slumped back in his chair, voice strained as he tried to contain his emotion "I should have stopped her" he croaked, burying his face in his hands "I was meant to protect her."
The team drew their chairs closer to comfort him just as the door opened and a doctor stood examining his clipboard "Miss Williams?"
Danny stood with Steve not far behind, followed by Kono and Chin seconds later.
"How is she?" the man questioned, fearing the answer "Please, dear God please tell me she's gonna make it?"
"The surgery went well and we managed to repair the tear in your daughter's spleen" a collective sigh of relief echoed around the room at this revelation, and Danny had to grab a hold of Steve's shoulder to keep himself from falling to the ground. "There was a significant amount of damage done to her left leg based on the impact of the other car so we've elevated it but it doesn't seem to be broken, just badly bruised so she'll be in pain for a good while."
Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing, the doctor was talking about 'in a while' which meant that Grace, his beautiful baby girl was gonna be okay.
"Anything else we should know?" Steve asked, sensing how desperate his partner was to get to his daughter.
"Aside from the lacerations to her face and head, the sprain to her wrist and a good deal of psychological trauma, I have no doubt Miss Williams will make a full recovery."
Kono stepped forward beaming "Can she have visitors?"
The doctor smiled "She's still unconscious from the anaesthetic of the surgery but yes you can sit with her, although HPD did say they needed some officers upstairs with your suspect? Said he was awake and kicking up a bit of a fuss."
Danny surged for the door, paused and turned back "I'm sorry, but I can't trust myself to go anywhere near the guy"
"Brah, you need to be with your daughter, we get that" Chin told him with a smile as he squeezed the man's shoulder "Kono and I have got this one, we'll be with you soon."
Steve patted both officers on the back in thanks as they left and then proceeded to follow Danny along the hall to where Grace's room was.
The teen looked so tiny lying in the bed, a pully keeping her leg up whilst the rest of her was wrapped in gauze or bandage. "Rachel's gonna have a field day with this" Danny rasped, dropping into a chair at the bedside and instantly reaching for his daughter's hand "You better be awake when she gets here, ready to fight for your Dad to keep all his organs intact." He chuckled sadly at his own joke and then carefully ran his fingers through Grace's hair.
"I'm sorry this happened D" Steve said softly from his spot leant against the opposite wall "We should have done more to stop her."
Danny shook his head "It wouldn't have helped" he told the man "She's stubborn, gets it from you. Nothing would have stopped her from taking the guy down."
The pause that followed was filled with the beeping and whirring of the machines attached to the young girl, and Steve rubbed at the stubble on his chin "She got him" he spoke quietly "She actually got him."
"Yeah well she's like her Dad, she gets the job done" Danny sniffed, bringing one of Grace's hands up to kiss her knuckles "Don't you baby?" he added in a whisper. The girl let out a short moan that sent her Father's heart into his mouth as he bent closer to her "Monkey?" he called softly "Can you hear me?"
Her eyelids flickered and then blinked open, wincing in the harsh light of the room "Danno?" she croaked, flexing her fingers around his hand "You're here."
The detective laughed, tears in his eyes as he spoke "Of course I'm here you shmuck, where else would I be, 'ey?"
"I'll go get the nurse" Steve murmured, ducking out of the room and leaving the pair alone.
"Did you get him?" Grace asked drowsily, taking in her floating leg "Did you get the man?"
Danny shook his head at her "I don't believe you, seriously I do not. You end up in a serious car accident, convince your Father you're dead and the first thing you worry about is whether the guy who caused it is okay?"
"Didn't say okay" Grace groaned "I asked if you got him."
Her Dad ducked down and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, managing to find a piece of skin that wasn't scraped or cut as he whispered "Yeah, we got him monkey" just as the door opened and Steve returned with two nurses in tow.
"Welcome back Grace!" one of them greeted brightly "How are you feeling?"
"Kinda bruised I guess" the teen replied, holding up her arm to examine the bandage "What's wrong with me?" she asked, listening dozily as they listed off her injuries. When they finished she turned to her Uncle with a lazy smile that made it clear she was addled with morphine "I'm catching up to you!" she hummed, subsiding into silence as she allowed Danny to settle her back against her pillows.
Steve approached the bed, side-stepping the nurses who were busy collecting the latest round of test results. "I'm gonna say this to you while you're too medded up to remember okay? Because I don't wanna scare you, Gracie look at me" he told her seriously, gently taking her hand in his to get her attention "You could've killed yourself today, you know that? You could've left your Dad without a daughter and Charlie without his sister."
Danny bowed his head, he didn't want to interrupt because what his partner was saying was true, and Grace needed to hear it, and if she heard it before her meds wore off then it wouldn't seem so scary.
"I'm sorry" the teen sighed sleepily "I was just- trying to- help" her eyes were drooping shut as she spoke and Danny looked up at the nurses in panic.
"She'll drift in and out" they explained softly "Because of the medication and the anaesthetic still in her system, it's nothing to worry about detective."
He nodded in thanks and waited for them to leave again before turning to Steve "Is it inappropriate of me to pick a base right now?" he asked the SEAL, the tiredness in his eyes becoming more evident. His partner smiled and pushed himself back to his feet, holding open his arms with raised eyebrows.
"You want the hug?" he offered, his response coming in the form of the detective bundling himself into his partner's arms while his body wracked with sobs or relief. Steve patted the man on the back "Shh, it's okay D, she's alright, everything's gonna be okay I promise you."
From the bed Grace cracked open an eye and smiled, her features loose with meds "Why aren't I getting any hugs?" she piped up, waving her arms in the air to gesture.
The two men pulled apart and approached her, Danny wiping his eyes as he went "You feeling sleepy huh monkey?" he questioned, settling on the edge of the mattress and gently stroking his thumb over her chin before bringing her gently into his chest and holding her there for a good few moments.
"Uh huh" the girl sighed, swinging her arm as her fingers entwined with Steve's from his spot on her other side "Where's Auntie Kono and Uncle Chin?"
"Upstairs baby, they'll be down soon" Danny assured her quietly.
"Are they with him?"
Steve stroked a loose strand of hair behind her ear "Don't think about him" he told her "We'll deal with him once we've got you home safe."
Grace nodded slowly, pushing herself to sit up slightly "I don't wanna keep falling asleep" she whined as both men tried to stop her "Don't leave me!"
Her Dad extended his pinky and hooked it round hers "I'm going nowhere baby girl, I promise you that."
The teen turned her face towards him "I love you Danno" she murmured, offering him a weary smile.
"I love you too my insanely reckless baby" he told her with a laugh, watching as she turned to face the other way.
"I love you Uncle Steve!" the girl declared, grinning as he stroked a finger down her nose.
"I love you too kiddo."
The room lulled into a peaceful silence in which both the detective and the SEAL basked in the knowledge that the little girl was going to be okay, while trying not to marvel in the fact that she'd managed to stop an armed thief from making his getaway.
After several minutes of thinking Grace was asleep, they heard her voice as it came out in somewhat of a hum.
"Danno?"
"Yeah monkey?"
"You're not gonna let me drive again are you?"
Steve looked across at Danny who had his eyebrows raised at the pure audacity of the question. The SEAL emphatically shook his head, a gleam in his eye as he awaited Danny's response.
"Baby girl?" the detective began "I don't have enough words to say that there's no way in hell."
Grace let out a yawn "Didn't think so" she said, her eyes fluttering shut once more.