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It felt like any other Wednesday, but Steve knew that today was different. Today was going to change the whole course of life for his family. Today DADT was being repealed and he and Danny were officially going to get their civil union license.
After four years of keeping their relationship a relative secret from the general public, Steve was ready to stop hiding.
He was ready to tell anyone that asks that he was married, happy, and yes his spouse happened to be a guy.
Steve wasn’t completely naïve, either. He knew that the fallout from the repeal would take some time to sort through. Just because it was no longer a punishable offense to be gay in the military didn’t mean that the prejudices so long engrained in the minds of many soldiers had disappeared altogether.
But Steve was tired of hiding.
The past four years of his life had been the best four years, and that was all thanks to Danny.
Steve knew that Danny deserved to be treated the same as every other military spouse, and he was determined to give him that.
Danny, for his part, was happy to be able to “officially” get married, but he didn’t seem quite as concerned about the secretive way they’ve had to conduct their relationship over the years.
‘I always did it for you, babe,’ Danny would tell Steve every time he brought it up, ‘I knew what it meant right from the beginning.’
Steve tried to argue with him that it was still unfair, and Danny agreed that maybe it was unfair that he couldn’t be listed as a spouse, but, he would remind Steve, having that classification on a piece of Naval paperwork did not mean they weren’t married or that Danny wasn’t a Navy spouse. ‘It’s just a piece of paper.’
But, to Steve, it was so much more than just a piece of paper. It was the recognition of his love for Danny and the important role that Danny played in his life. Yes, Steve was aware that it was just a piece of paper and, in the end, Danny would be his husband no matter what the Navy thought, but it made Steve feel a whole lot better knowing that if anything would happen to him during a deployment, Danny would be the first person they notified, and he would get the same respect and treatment as any other military spouse.
Today marked the end of hiding and pretending that they didn’t love each other with every crazy, ranting-filled, explosion-causing fiber of their being.
*H50*
“C’mon, Danno,” Steve yelled up the stairs, “I really don’t want to wait in line forever at the court house.”
“Making me an “official” honest man is not worth waiting in line for,” Danny asked in his good-natured bantering way as he walked down the stairs straightening his tie.
“A tie, Danno, please don’t wear a tie.”
“Excuse me, Steven, aren’t you the one that keeps going on and on about how special of an occasion this is and how important getting this license means to you?”
“It is special, Danny.”
“Exactly, so I dressed nice for said special occasion. I’m glad to see that your inability to handle mammal-to-mammal interactions didn’t deter you from dressing up for the occasion,” he waved his arms in Steve’s direction, “Oh wait, it did, because, seriously, you are wearing cargo pants and a polo to go sign our civil union license? I feel really special now.”
“Danny, we have to go to work after; these are my work clothes.”
“I’m sorry,” Danny stopped his movements towards the hall closet where his loafers were located, “You are acting as if this is an errand we have to run before our work day starts. You-” he poked Steve in the chest, “are not acting as if this is a special occasion that deserves a special moment and nice clothes. And, for the love of god, you are the one who has been so insistent on getting this stupid license in the first place.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t want to get our license,” Steve was enraged, but if he was really honest with himself, though, what he was really feeling was hurt and rejection. Why didn’t Danny want to marry him “officially?”
“Steve, in my mind I married you four years ago on our beach in front of our family and friends. I don’t need a piece of paper to tell me that our union is recognized by the state of Hawaii to feel as if our marriage is real. Trust me, babe, the fact that I’m woken up every morning at the ungodly hour of four-thirty a.m. reminds me on a daily basis of the commitment I made to you, and it is the only thing that actually forces me to get up at said ungodly hour.”
“You get up for Avery.”
Danny shook his head, “No, I get up for you. I know that you enjoy getting up early and using those few extra hours before the rest of the world wakes up to swim or run or do whatever ridiculous act of exercise you can think of. I get up so that you can enjoy that time and Avery will still make it to practice. I love Avery with all of my heart, but I know she would be no worse for the wear if you got up in the morning and drove her to practice and I woke up at a more normal time and picked her up. But, I don’t do that because I know how much you love those few hours to yourself.”
“Really?”
“Really Super SEAL,” Danny ushered Steve forward, wrapping his arms around the taller man, “I always did that for you. So, please, don’t get nervous or worried that me not being as concerned about this license is evidence for me not loving you; it’s not true, not by a long shot, you my friend, are stuck with me for the long haul whether you like it or not.”
“I think I can handle that. But why is this not important to you?”
“I married you four years ago with the most important people in our lives present. Our daughters walked us down the aisle and we made a commitment to love each other through it all. A piece of paper does not signify the truth behind that commitment, our lives will be no different now that we have this piece of paper; I will still be your husband, just like I was yesterday and the day before that. The only thing that’s changed is that I don’t have to worry about outing you to the entire military every time we have a case that involves one of the branches stationed here.”
“Our lives will be different, and not just our lives,” Steve whispered as he pulled out of Danny’s grasp, walking towards the door. He wasn’t sure Danny had heard him at first, so he decided to let it drop and grabbed the keys, “C’mon, we should go.”
“Stop right there, Steven J. McGarrett,” Steve’s legs seized up in mid-step as he pivoted towards Danny; he tried not to think about the unfortunately high amount of control Danny had over him, “Don’t you dare think that you can get away with saying something like that and not explain yourself.”
“It’s nothing, Danno, just get in the car.”
“No.”
Ugh, stubborn Danny sucks sometimes, Steve thought as he closed the door with a resounding thud, “I just meant that today is going to change our family.”
“How’s that? We aren’t any more married than we were yesterday.”
“That’s true, but now you can adopt Avery,” Steve whispered.
They had talked once, very briefly, about the possibility of Danny adopting Avery. Steve was all for it, wanting Avery to know that she had two loving, devoted parents. Danny was a little more hesitant, concerned if it would even be possible. He didn’t want to get their hopes up if it didn’t end up panning out. Steve knew that Danny wanted to adopt her just as much as Steve and that his concern was out of fear of disappointment. So Steve had let it drop, and didn’t bring it up again. He didn’t forget about it, however, and had secretly been researching family law practices and how exactly they would go about making Danny Avery’s legal guardian; Steve had even consulted a family lawyer, which was saying something because Steve hated lawyers even more than he hated waking up late.
“We’ve talked about that, you know I want to but I don’t want to get our hopes up.”
“I know that’s why I did some research. To make you Avery’s official guardian, Gwen has to sign over her parental rights.”
“And how exactly do you plan on getting her to do that? You haven’t seen or heard from her in ten years.”
“I talked to a lawyer, he said that all I had to do was put an ad in the local paper of the last place I knew her to be living and if she doesn’t answer it then she forfeits automatically.”
“You really put a lot of thought into this.”
“Danny, I want you to be Avery’s legal guardian, and I know that’s what you want too. With DADT gone and us being able to officially get married, we can finally do that, be a real family.”
“Let’s get one thing clear, Steven, we are already a real family, all of this,” Danny gesticulates wildly around the air in front of him, “Is real, a piece of paper is just going to make it recognizable to the public and make it legal.”
“So, are you a little more excited to make it legal?”
“If it means I get a second honeymoon then, yes, I’m excited.”
“Love you, Danno,” Steve laughs as they finally head out the door.
“Danno loves you, too.”