Work Text:
Steve supposed he should have seen it coming. Danny was asking for leave to go to New Jersey and visit his parents. Since Matt had vanished, they needed him more than ever.
It wasn't a big deal — right? It was just Danny going away for a couple of weeks.
Far away.
Far away as in not only across the ocean, but the other side of the continent.
He had lived for over 30 years without Danny in his life. Why should Danny's departure matter so much?
"Take as long as you need," Steve said to his partner. "It's your family. They need you."
"And you don't need me?" Danny asked. “You know, to stand by and yell at you when you blow things up and drop people off buildings and things like that.”
"Of course we need you," Steve answered. "But there are three of us here to hold down the fort. Right now, I think your family needs you more."
He didn't mention how much he himself needed Danny, because he didn't need Danny — did he?
The following morning, Steve drove Danny to the airport. "I get the car all to myself while you're away," he gloated.
Danny glared at him. "Take good care of it," he said.
"I always do."
"No, you don't, and that's what worries me."
As Danny was about to walk through the gate, Steve grabbed him in a bear hug. "Aloha," he said.
"Aloha," Danny responded with a smile. Then, with a wave, he was gone.
Two days later....
Steve paced around Five-0 headquarters. It wasn't the same without Danny there. Danny was his partner. Danny wasn't supposed to leave. It just wasn't right.
He told himself he was being stupid. Danny was an adult who could go anywhere he wanted to, even if it was 5,000 miles away.
His phone beeped, alerting him to a text message. It was from Danny.
Hey, Babe. Miss me?
Steve had no doubt that Danny knew very well that he missed him, but he wasn't going to tell him that. A man had to have some dignity.
Miss you? I didn't even notice you were gone, Steve replied.
You're a bad liar, Steven, Danny sent back. Gotta go. Family dinner time. Talk to you later.
Dinner time? Steve looked at his watch. New Jersey was six hours ahead of Hawaii, so yes, it would probably be dinner time for the Williams family. It was lunch time for Steve, but he didn't feel much like eating. Still, that text message had eased a bit of the loneliness he'd been feeling since Danny left.
Apparently Chin and Kono recognized Steve's mood, though, because the two of them insisted on taking him to lunch. He was glad that he had the two of them. His relationship with them wasn't the same as his relationship with Danny — then again, he wasn't entirely sure what his relationship with Danny was — but they were good friends.
As Steve was preparing for bed that night, his phone rang. Danny!
"Good morning," came Danny's voice.
"It's midnight," Steve pointed out.
Danny laughed softly. "It's six in the morning here, Babe. I dragged myself out of bed bright and early just so that I could call you before you turned in for the night."
Steve was surprised and touched that Danny had made that much of an effort to call him. He knew that Danny was not a morning person and never got out of bed before he absolutely had to. "Well, since you're up so early, maybe you should make breakfast for your parents."
"My folks won't be up for another couple of hours yet. I'll probably go back to bed after I finish talking to you," Danny replied. "I'll dream about a world where people wear ties to work, and they don't have hand grenades in the glove box of their car. Oh wait, I'm in that world right now."
Steve laughed, but part of him worried that Danny would return to New Jersey one day. He knew that Rachel and Stan weren't getting along, and if they broke up, then Rachel might decide to return to New Jersey with Grace, which would lead to Danny returning to New Jersey as well.
The two of them talked for a while about Danny's parents and their distress at what had become of Matt. Steve knew that Danny blamed himself for not being able to stop his brother from going on the run from the authorities.
"It's getting pretty late for you," Danny finally said. "I guess I should say goodnight."
"And I should say good morning?" Steve asked.
"Listen, uh.... You miss me, don't you?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "I wish you were here." He meant it.
"Goodnight, Steven."
"Good morning, Daniel."
When Danny hung up, Steve sat on the side of his bed and stared at the phone for a long moment before putting it down.
The next day, Steve phoned Danny when it was midnight in Newark.
"I am not going to call you at six in the morning if you're going to keep me up late," Danny said when he answered.
"That's okay. I don't expect you to. I know how you value your beauty sleep."
"I'm glad you called, though," Danny said.
Steve could tell from Danny's tone that something was bothering him. "Why? What's wrong?"
Danny sighed. "My parents are still really upset about Matt. I know they don't blame me, but..."
"...you blame yourself," Steve finished for him.
"Yeah," Danny sighed. "I'm the big brother. I'm the one who's supposed to take care of Matt, because he's my little bro."
"Matt is also an adult who made his own choices," Steve pointed out.
"I know that," said Danny. "In my head, I know that. But in my gut...."
"I know," Steve said. "I know all about it. If you want to talk about feeling guilty over something you couldn't control..."
"...talk to you about your dad," Danny finished for him. "Why do we do this to ourselves?"
"Maybe it has something to do with being the eldest, the firstborn," Steve mused. "Being responsible for our younger siblings, expected to look after our parents when they get older."
"Speaking of firstborns," Danny said, "could you look in on Gracie for me? I'm sure she'd love to see you. I told Rachel to expect to hear from you."
"I'd be happy to," Steve told him. "I'm sure she misses you a lot."
"I miss you a lot," Danny said.
The words put a lump in Steve's throat. "I miss you a lot, too. When will you be back?"
"Soon, I hope. Goodnight, Steven."
Steve didn't bother to point out that it was only early evening in Honolulu. "Goodnight, Daniel." I love you.
When had he become so dependent on Danny? He couldn't say. All he knew was that he and Danny belonged together. When he worked so hard that he was exhausted, he drew strength from Danny. A look, a smile, a word from Danny could change his mood in an instant.
It didn't matter that they were 5,000 miles apart. Steve knew, somehow, that they were each other's destiny. He was pretty sure that Danny felt the same way. Either that, or he had completely misinterpreted Danny's recent behaviour.
The two of them had grown very close since they had started working together, and there was a definite spark of something between them. The way Danny looked at him sometimes, and the way he knew he looked at Danny, said more than words could. They'd been avoiding talking about it, though. They stuck to their car-guments, or, when they talked about more serious subjects, they didn't talk about their own relationship. And conversations about serious subjects usually didn't last very long.
Steve vowed to change that when Danny returned.
The next day, Steve picked up Gracie at school and took her for a shave ice. Gracie, of course, was thrilled to see Uncle Steve.
Gracie was also more perceptive than Steve had given her credit for.
"Uncle Steve," she asked as she finished her shave ice, "do you love Danno?"
There was a question he hadn't been expecting. "Yes, Gracie, I do love Danno."
"Are you going to get married? Will you be my Step-Steve?"
Steve thought about that for only the briefest moment. "I would love to be your Step-Steve," he said. "But I don't know yet if Danno and I are going to get married."
"Why not?"
"Well, he hasn't asked me." Steve hoped that would satisfy Grace.
"Then you ask him," Grace said.
"Well, you know what, Gracie? People usually go on dates first, before they get married. Do you know what it means to go on a date?"
"It means like you go to the movies, or you go have dinner at a restaurant with someone. And you kiss them goodnight at the end."
Steve tried to not laugh at Grace's description of a date. She wasn't that far off. "Yeah, that's pretty much what a date is," he said. "I haven't been on any dates with your dad yet, so I think we should probably go on a few dates before we get married."
Come to think of it, though, he and Danny had been on plenty of dates — not to the movies or out to dinner, but they'd gone hiking to the petroglyphs together. They'd taken Steve's dad's car out for test drives and stopped for lunch along the way. They just hadn't called these outings "dates."
"When you and Danno get married, can I be your flower girl?" Gracie asked.
"You bet, Gracie. You'll be a gorgeous flower girl."
When Steve's phone rang the next night, he nearly pounced on it in anticipation.
"So, I understand you had an interesting conversation with my daughter today," Danny said without preamble.
Oops. He should have realized that Gracie would tell her father everything.
"Yeah, it was kind of interesting," Steve said neutrally.
"Were you ever going to get around to telling me that you love me?" Danny asked.
"I was going to tell you when you got home," Steve said, then wondered if "home" was the right word to use; he thought Danny might still consider New Jersey to be his home.
"That settles it, then," Danny said. "I'm catching the first flight back to Honolulu that I can get."
"What will you tell your parents?" Steve asked.
"I'll tell them that there is a very special man waiting for me at home, and that he has something very important to tell me."
"I love you, Danny," Steve blurted.
There was a slight hitch in Danny's voice when he replied, "I love you, too. Get some sleep, and I'll let you know when to expect me back in Hawaii."
"Call me as soon as you have a flight. I don't care if it's the middle of the night. I probably won't be sleeping anyway."
"I love you," Danny said.
"I love you, too."
It took Danny most of the next day to find a direct flight from Newark to Honolulu. There was only one airline that offered non-stop flights, and they were heavily booked. Fortunately, he was able to pick up someone's cancellation. By the time he arrived in Honolulu, he was exhausted after a ten-hour flight. But the sight of Steve McGarrett waiting for him impatiently was enough to energize him. He ran into Steve's arms.
Steve had shut down Five-0 for the day, citing boss's prerogative. Chin Ho and Kono weren't fooled; they knew it was because he planned to spend the entire day with Danny.
"Welcome home," Steve said. "I know it was a long flight. You must be jet-lagged. Come back to my house. You can sleep there."
"Only if you're planning on joining me," Danny teased as he got into his car.
"You'd better believe I'm going to join you. I don't think I slept at all last night. I was watching the clock, waiting until it was time to leave to come pick you up. In fact, I was wondering something."
"What's that?" Danny asked.
"I was wondering if you'd consider sleeping with me every night from now on. As in, move in with me."
"Didn't you tell Gracie that we needed to go on a few dates first?"
“That's before we get married. I didn't say anything about our moving in together,” Steve said.
Danny yawned. “How about we talk this over after I've slept for about 18 hours or so? Can you wait that long?”
“I guess,” Steve sighed.
“Don't give me that face, Steven.”
“What face?”
“You know. You have a face,” Danny said. It was something he frequently said to Steve.
Steve had to laugh. Having Danny back, having him talk about his face, being here in the car with him.... Things couldn't be more perfect, except for Danny's not accepting his offer to move in.
“All right. I have a face. My face shows that I am a bit disappointed.”
Danny reached over from the passenger seat and took Steve's hand in his. “I didn't say no, Babe. I just don't want to make any commitments when I'm about to pass out from exhaustion. I would be very happy to move in with you. But let's go over the details when we're both well rested. Okay?”
When they got to Steve's house, Steve took Danny into his arms and kissed him slowly and thoroughly. Danny groaned. “I think that's something else that needs to be saved until I'm actually awake,” he said.
They went upstairs, and Danny was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow of Steve's bed. Steve climbed in beside him, took him in his arms, and gently kissed his cheek. “I love you,” he whispered.
Danny's eyes fluttered open briefly. “Love you too,” he mumbled. "And by the way...."
"What?"
"I really am home," Danny said.
Steve drifted off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that Danny was where he belonged — home.
END