Chapter Text
The rain trickled down his windscreen as Danny stared out, looking for the tell tale white-blonde crop of his new partner. His phone started ringing and the detective sullenly ignored it, knowing it was Rachel continuing her part of the latest argument. He shifted in his seat and watched as a bus tore around the corner, soaking an umbrella wielding businessman.
He should have known, why did he expect things to be different the second time around??
The phone stopped and the dull murmur of the rain was the only sound in the car as Danny stared down at his hands. Truth was he knew why he was here, back in Jersey, back in the pouring rain.
It was that feeling.
The feeling that had started when Matthew boarded that plane, the feeling that he wanted no needed to go back. Back before Hawaii, before the divorce, back when he had a family and a steady job.
He licked his lips, just where was Richards with his cheesesteak. Ah, the cheesesteak from Michael’s had been one of few things that were as idyllic as he remembered. A flash of thunder above and Danny’s eyes shot up to the sky, slowly lowering and lingering on his visor. He glanced around furtively to make sure his partner wasn’t on his way back before flipping it down to reveal a photograph of Gracie and a postcard. He reached up and slid the card from its place, running his fingers over the edge and smiling at the picturesque Hawaiian beach on the front.
He knew it would be Kono, Chin had called him a few times, Kamekona sent t-shirts but a handwritten postcard? Yeah, that was Kono. He read over the short paragraph again for the thousandth time ignoring the pang in his chest when he thought about five-o, Hawaii and Steve. He almost smiled when he remembered Steve’s disgusted look when he had seen the postcard of New Jersey, he wondered what face he would be making if he could see him now. Probably the same one he got when he worked out a case before Danny or when he found out that Danny had been learning to surf. Smug, so self assured about that stupid island and how oh-so-amazing it was.
Of course he had been calling and talking to them for a while about Steve’s murder charge and how to prove he was innocent but he had kept it strictly business.
He never asked if they visited him in prison, if he called them ever, if he mentioned Danny at all. No, it was his last case with the team and he was going to see it through like a professional.
A door slamming in the wind broke his focus and Danny quickly slid the postcard back in its place, grabbing his phone to scroll through his messages as the passenger door flew open. They ate in silence. It was not that Danny didn’t like the guy, he was a good cop, the was just not as engaging as he’d like, trying to get some banter out of the guy was like pulling blood from a stone.
But that was fine, he could just talk for the two of them except time moved so slow these days that it seemed that all he was doing everyday was talking. Although he would never admit it out loud or even just quietly to himself Danny knew deep down that he had made a mistake; that the pieces just didn’t fit like he thought they would and that was another thing.
Rachel, at first things were great they were fabulous but two months in something changed. Whether she was having second thoughts or sensed that Danny was he didn’t know but she was behaving oddly. Phone calls late at night, weird glances from her friends. Something was up and Danny was determined to find out what.
He finished his cheesesteak and balled up the paper it had been wrapped in, throwing it into the brown paper bag that served as their rubbish bin and placing both hands on the wheel. His eyes flickered up to the visor once more. Yeah, he missed Hawaii but to go back just seemed like an impossible dream, he couldn’t leave Grace; he couldn’t leave the new baby.
He glanced at his phone again blinking in surprise when a familiar face popped up on the screen, his own personal ringtone blaring out from tinny speakers. Sexy eyes. Danny stared and stared and stared until Richards coughed politely forcing him to break his gaze.
“Uh you gonna get that?”
The detective wriggled in his seat and reached out to grab the phone and answering it with slightly shaky hands. “Steve?”