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Steve was used to the snow. Naturally he was – the man was a fucking Navy SEAL, he had probably spent three years of his life living in a snow cave he had dug out himself in Alaska during his training. Alright, maybe that was taking it a bit too far – but still, the point comes across nonetheless. You see, the ever-so-versatile Steve McGarrett didn’t even flinch when Danny said they’d be heading to the mainland during the worst snow season in New Jersey. Hadn’t he known better, Danny would probably say Steve looked a little excited about the fact, and Danny wasn’t going to lie; he was more than just a little excited about watching Steve and Charlie spend hours in the snow. Just the idea of bringing Steve to New Jersey had Danny excited, a new kind of excited that he hadn’t felt before.
He had been in Hawaii for Thanksgiving, working on the perfect dinner for the team with Steve, though it had all been disrupted when a call with a bomb threat came in, and they had instead spent the evening tending to cuts and bruises, mending each other’s hurt with whisky and kisses instead of a team dinner and celebrations. Christmas had, for some reason, been split between him and Rachel; he had the kids for the first few days, while Rachel had taken them to England for New Years. Steve – God bless him – had noticed that Danny was uneasy with the thought of only having a few days with the children over the holiday, and had put in his absolute best effort to make Christmas the best holiday ever. In hindsight, Danny had come to realise it was the best holiday ever, but that had nothing to do with the eccentric reindeer-costume that had been forced onto Eddie, or the way Steve had somehow managed to cram together an entire holiday into the span of three days. It had been the best holiday because Danny had his people with him; Steve, Grace and Charlie (and Eddie – he could never forget Eddie).
Now, however, as he was sprawled across their bed – their shared bed – he found himself simply watching as Steve packed, fascinated with the way he brought an op-like precision into everything he did. Eddie was slumbering at the foot of the bed, his head resting heavily against Danny’s ankle, seeming to be aware of how his human family were preparing themselves for a vacation he wouldn’t be going with them on. “Are you going to make running commentary, or are you just going to stare?” Steve chuckled, voice laced with amusement as he turned, shoving one final item of clothing into his bag.
“I’m just curious to see whether you’ve packed for a Jersey winter, or if you’ve packed for – you know,” he gestured vaguely around, making it clear to himself that he meant the stupidly warm Hawaiian winter. “Your favoured winter, where you could wear shorts every day.”
Steve grinned widely, fingertips brushing against Danny’s calf as he gave Eddie’s head a couple of pats. “I’ve been to the mainland during winter before, you know. Seems you keep forgetting the years I spent in the Navy.” He turned towards the doorway as Charlie appeared, clad in his superhero pyjamas with a wide grin on his lips. “Hey, buddy, are you ready for bed? Did you pack your backpack with the things you want to bring for our trip?” Steve’s voice grew softer as he spoke with the young boy, who in return climbed onto the bed to have better reach as he clung to Steve like a koala.
“I packed my coolest action figures, so I can show grandpa.” Charlie nodded against Steve’s chest, furrowing his brow at the rumbling in the larger body as Steve responded with a chuckle.
“Alright, well, we should get you to sleep then. Me or Danno?” Steve raised an eyebrow, as if the answer wasn’t clear enough to him with how Charlie had done his best to wrap himself around Steve, though the poking at Steve’s ribs caused the wide grin to return. “Roger that. How about you say good night to Danno, and meet me in your room?”
It caused Danny’s heart to skip a beat, the way he said it. Not long after they had admitted their feelings for one another, somehow hastily over yet another this could be the end of the world situation, Steve had made it clear that he wouldn’t want it any other way. His old room had been redecorated to meet Charlie’s standards, an odd combination of race cars, superheroes and cowboys, and Mary’s old room had been turned into a room suited for Grace, making sure she always had a place to stay whenever she decided to make her way back to Hawaii – back home – from college. In many ways, it had been the simplest yet most perfect admission from Steve that he didn’t just want Danny, he wanted it all – he wanted school mornings, homework, little league games, pancake mornings and all the messes that came with living with a child. Steve, who had never been foreign to the idea of having children, but had struggled to find the needed balance between his work and personal life, and when he in turn had been diagnosed with radiation poisoning (and, he hadn’t specifically told Danny, but the detective was well aware that if the radiation itself hadn’t made him completely infertile, there was a high chance he would never be able to have children of his own), it had seemed like the perfect time for him to commit, fully and wholly, to Danny and his children.
Danny was pulled out of his thoughts as Charlie flopped against the mattress next to him, giggling like a mad-man as he snuggled closer. “Can you promise me that when Steve comes to wake you up in the morning, you will get up right away?” Danny huffed, arms wrapped tightly around Charlie, which made it difficult for him to jump up and salute his father with a Yessir, yes!, something he had picked up from the Navy SEAL, without a doubt. “Sleep tight, buddy, I love you.”
“Love you too, Danno.” Charlie replied, words muffled against the fabric covering Danny’s chest, before squirming his way out of the warm embrace. He could hear Steve’s chuckles from the room down the hall, followed by the low sound of his voice as he started telling a bedtime story, and based on the sound-effects – it could very well be a (hopefully) children’s appropriate version of some case they had worked (not that Danny hadn’t done the same; his mild and children’s friendly Christmas-story, which portrayed Steve as the hero who saved the holidays, had become a favourite of Charlie’s).
It wasn’t until Eddie started moving, stretching with a wide, whiny yawn, that Danny too decided he should get moving, following the dog downstairs to let him out back. Grace was on the couch, watching some ridiculous reality programme, the kind of show that Danny would never in a million years allow himself to be caught watching, yet he sunk into the couch next to his teenage daughter once Eddie was back inside.
“If you’re going to sit here, I’m not giving you a run-down of what’s happened.” Grace rolled her eyes, patting Eddie as he pressed his snout against her thigh, before wandering off to his preferred spot by Steve’s desk, curling as best he could against the rug.
“That’s fine.” Danny shrugged, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to wrap his head around the overly dramatic argument that was unfurling on the screen in front of him. However, as Grace yawned, he let his attempt of understanding go, and turned towards her instead. “You know, we’ll be getting up quite early tomorrow, probably wouldn’t be a bad idea if you headed to bed now. If you’ve packed everything you need for a few days in Jersey, that is.” Danny chuckled, knowing his daughter had his not-so-fortunate skills when it came to packing, and he was already dreading the time he would spend in the bedroom as he packed, Steve hovering over him and commenting on whatever he thought needed a comment.
“I think I’ll take you up on that offer, if it means I’ll escape you and your thoughts.” Grace grinned wickedly, pressing a kiss to her father’s cheek with a muffled good night, and vanishing upstairs.
Steve appeared shortly after, leaning against the railing of the staircase, a chuckle escaping his lips. “See, I’d come over and join you, but I know for a fact that you haven’t packed, and I’m not about to have you grumpy-packing at four am.” Taking the last few steps down, he ensured the front door was locked, and headed to the kitchen to refill Eddie’s bowl of water for the night, before returning to the living room. “Let’s go get you packed and ready, and then I’m going to turn in for the night. If I’m to deal with you and Grace at that hour in the morning, God knows I’m in need of a good night’s sleep.” He rolled his eyes, calling Eddie after him as he turned back to the stairs, Danny turning off the TV and the lights as he followed suit.
Danny was convinced, by the end of his packing, that he had not at all packed everything he needed, but at the same time, he was convinced Steve hadn’t packed what he needed to survive the Jersey snow, so maybe he didn’t stress too much about having to possibly go to the mall during their stay. Zipping his bag closed, he was about to head for the shower when Steve wrapped a strong arm around him, tugging him to the bed instead. “Steve, I should really-,”
“Save the shower for when we wake up, please.” Steve murmured sleepily against the side of his head, his stubbled chin giving Danny’s cheek a bristly nuzzle as they settled underneath the sheets of the bed. “You’ll wake up more if you shower in the morning.” He tried once more to squirm out of Steve’s embrace, but unlike the hold he had kept on Charlie earlier, Steve was adamant about keeping the detective right there, in bed. “Turn your brain off, Daniel, and sleep, please.” Steve huffed, pressing his lips to Danny’s ear, and by some miracle, Danny fell asleep.
As predicted, he was grumpy when the alarm clock rang at 3 am, their (correction: Steve’s) clock being set an hour before the kids’, so the Navy SEAL had the time to go for his morning swim, a jog with Eddie, and to take a shower before he tended to Charlie and Grace. The thing was, even though Steve pressed gentle kisses to his head, attempting to soothe him back to sleep, Danny wasn’t able to, and found himself ambling down to the kitchen, where he made coffee – one for himself, perfectly balanced between the far-too-strong coffee and milk, and one for Steve, with the spoonful of grass-fed butter that he for some reason had to have a cup of in the morning.
Charlie was, like predicted, awake and happy long before anyone had the chance to wake him, and Grace was a lot more like her father; tired and grumpy. However, even ten minutes before Danny had planned, they were bunched together in the car, on their way to drop Eddie off at Tani’s (Danny had to remind Steve that they needed to return the favour in some grand gesture as they returned from Jersey, after all she had voluntarily gotten up early to greet them and make sure Eddie settled in at her place before work). The next few hours were more of a haze, sleepily making their way through security, making sure all four of them ate breakfast, and the flight itself was spent huddling together and sleeping (for Danny and Steve), watching a movie (for Charlie, who had wrapped himself in a blanket on Steve’s lap, watching a cartoon on the in-seat screen, until he fell asleep during the last hour of the flight), and texting friends (for Grace).
The first thing they noticed as they reached Newark, was the chillier temperature, and Danny’s shivering told him he had gotten a lot more used to the Hawaiian warmth than he would like to admit. He was hanging back and for some reason just watching as Steve loaded their luggage into the rental car, before helping a sleepy Charlie into the vehicle, he felt like the luckiest man alive. Grace was leaning against his side, head against his shoulder as they watched Steve, and for some odd reason, it all felt like a full circle kind of moment. He wasn’t sure he would even be here right now, at the Newark Airport, with his two children and Steve, about to get into a rental car as they would be heading to Danny’s family.
Almost as if she knew something was going on inside his head, Grace turned slightly, poking and prodding at Danny’s ribs, her jabs a lot harder than they would have to be back in Hawaii, as they now had to push through his down jacket. “Just marry him already, will you?” She groaned, timing it almost perfectly to the moment when Steve turned, leaning slightly back against the car with that ridiculous and goofy grin spread on his lips (the grin that Danny absolutely loved, and had come to realise was a grin reserved for him and the kids only). “He’s been used as a pillow by Charlie, and has been carrying around halfway sleeping and drooling Charlie since we got off the plane. Do you really need an eccentric kind of proposal or whatever after that?”
She didn’t give him the chance to answer, though, pushing away from him as she headed for the car. Chuckling, Danny gathered his energy and followed her, though instead of getting into the car, he wrapped himself around Steve’s torso, fingers in the belt loops of his jeans and head against his chest as he hummed contentedly. The smooth surface of the Navy SEAL’s down jacket was cold to touch, and in a weird way it jolted Danny’s energy levels a little, waking him up in time to notice that Steve was pressing the car keys into his hands. “Wait, you don’t want to-,”
“This is your home-turf, Danny.” Steve grinned, patting gently against Danny’s hands, which were now wrapped around the cold metal of the keys. “If you wish for me to give off the gentleman impression for your parents, however, we can pull over and swap places as we near their house.”
“If we’re going to do that, we might as well also put you in a jacket where the shoulder isn’t stained with Charlie’s drool.” Danny rolled his eyes, not failing to notice how the grin on Steve’s lips widened even more. Lowering his head slightly, Steve pressed a kiss to the corner of Danny’s mouth, warm breath ghosting over his lips, before moving himself out from his spot between Danny and the car. There was undoubtedly something odd about seeing Steve, the man who claimed to get motion sickness whenever he didn’t sit behind the wheel himself, get into the passenger seat – but maybe it was just Steve’s way of telling Danny that he trusted him with his heart, body and soul (and health).
He was about to open the door to the driver’s seat when his phone buzzed, presumably with another text message from his mother, and quite like the last 47 messages he had received from her, this was laced with worry about how to make sure the house was properly prepared to greet Steve. At this point he was sure that if he told them Steve needed a full home gym to work out, they would have torn out everything in the basement and made just that for him. This one, however, was from Bridget, telling him that she hoped they were prepared for snow, because they sure as hell had chosen to visit New Jersey right around the time for the craziest snow fall of the year.
With fingers going numb from the cold, he ducked into the car, delighted to see that Steve had managed to wake Charlie, well aware it would be hopeless to put the boy down to sleep when it was bedtime if his nap continued long into the afternoon. However, Danny was surprised to see that, in order to keep Charlie awake, Steve had willingly given up his phone, sheepishly grinning at Danny as he realised the device had several of Charlie’s favoured games downloaded, making him just a little too well prepared for moments like this. “I know you kids were hoping to get a few things done over our days here, but I want you all to be aware that the forecast says it’s going to snow – a lot.” Danny turned, glancing between his kids, though seeing none of them were paying attention – Charlie in the middle of a very important round of what appeared to be Angry Birds, and Grace had her headphones tucked neatly over her ears, scrolling mindlessly on her phone. “Alright, lively audience we have in the back here.”
Steve chuckled, shifting slightly in his seat. “They’re tired, Danny. So are you, so am I. We’ve been awake since far too early, and we still have a few more hours until it’s reasonable for us to succumb to our tiredness.” He shrugged slightly, reaching across to place a hand on Danny’s thigh, giving it a light squeeze, just like he would do whenever he was behind the steering wheel. “Now, I don’t know if this whole place holds something of a meaningful memory for you, but I’m sure there are other parts of Jersey you’d rather show me than the airport, right?”
His tone was teasing, and his touch was warm, and alright, Danny found himself agreeing, because the neighbourhood where he grew up was a whole lot nicer than the Newark Airport, and with the rate of his mother’s preparations, he should probably make sure they got to the comfort of Danny’s childhood home. The drive seemed longer than Danny could remember, and it could be because he had Steve in the passenger seat, the Navy SEAL being completely quiet, though Danny could tell he had entered the same type of focus he did when they were on a stakeout, possibly to make sure he didn’t fall asleep. Danny found his hand, still resting against his thigh, and tangled their fingers together, giving the larger hand a gentle squeeze.
Steve grinned at that, and though it wasn’t the most practical considering Danny was driving (he was grateful that Steve had rented a car with automatic transmission), their hands remained linked until Danny pulled onto the street where his parents were residing. Even then, it wasn’t he who pulled away from the touch, as much as it was Steve, who turned slightly in his seat to make sure the kids in the back were awake, Charlie returning the mobile device to his hand with a muffled statement that he should probably charge it. “You’ve really done it now, babe – letting him know you’ve got those games on there.”
“I don’t mind.” Steve shrugged, pocketing his phone as Danny pulled into the driveway, parking the rental car behind his dad’s sedan.
There was a thin layer of snow on the ground, maybe a warning sign of what was to come, though Danny only revelled in the sound of snow, gravel and ice crunching underneath his boots as he got out of the car. Based on Steve’s expression, it wasn’t a sound he had heard in a very long time, an expression that in turn had Danny stifling a laugh. “If this amuses you, I should only hope we get a proper snowfall tomorrow. Charlie won’t let you be inside for one second, I know that much.” He grinned, moving around the car to retrieve their luggage from the trunk as Grace made her way to the front door, and Steve got Charlie out of the car.
With one arm supporting Charlie, who clung to Steve like his life depended on it (he had taken to doing that with Steve, and it didn’t seem like either one of them minded – Danny knew he certainly didn’t mind), Steve cheekily snuck an arm around Danny’s torso, covering his move as he picked a bag from the trunk and placed a kiss to his cheek. “Maybe I don’t mind being outside with Charlie all day, have you thought about that?”
No, he hadn’t – but then again, Danny shouldn’t be surprised about the thought either. Steve, though being an adult, nearing his 42nd birthday, was a lot like a child, and without psychoanalysing him, Danny was well aware that the answer for it all laid somewhere between his mother not being the most present, before she faked her death and his father had shipped him off to the mainland. Catching his breath, he found himself hanging back for a second as he watched Steve approach Clara and Eddie at the porch, easing Charlie into his grandma’s arms as the Navy SEAL himself was greeted with a hug and kiss on the cheek from Clara, and a firm handshake accompanied with a slap on the back from Eddie.
“Danny, will you be joining us today, or do you have other plans?” Clara called, arms wrapped tightly around the growing boy in her embrace, Eddie well into leading Steve inside, probably already chattering away about something only Steve could keep up with.
“Take my son inside, will you? I’d prefer it if he didn’t get pneumonia because you keep him out here.” Danny rolled his eyes as he reached the porch, though his expression mellowed as Clara tugged him closer, and had him wrap his arms around them both, a move that caused Charlie to squirm. “I’ve missed you, ma.”
“I’ve missed you too, Danny.” Clara hummed into their hug, pushing her son in front as they all headed inside. Grace had vanished, presumably to set up shop in a room that had previously belonged to one of Danny’s sisters. Steve had reached the living room, already engaged in listening to one of Eddie’s long monologues about the gratitude he had for men like Steve, who had served the country. “I was thinking maybe we could have lasagna for dinner, if you would want to help me?”
“Of course.” Danny chuckled, looking down at Charlie’s bag which stood at his feet. “Where do you want us?”
“I’ve got your old room for you, Matt’s old room for Charlie. I think Gracie ended up staying in Bridget’s old room, but that means Stella’s room is free if you, you know…” Clara trailed off, nodding slightly in the direction of Steve, and Danny couldn’t help but grin widely – it was sweet really, that she had made sure there was a way out of sharing a bed with Steve if Danny didn’t want to. Not that they would need to use that way out, of course. “I didn’t want to assume anything.”
“It’s alright, ma. We’ll share my old room.” Danny was still grinning as he toed off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket, not failing to pick up on his mother’s about damn time, before approaching his dad. “Dad, please give him time to breathe, yeah?” He rolled his eyes slightly at Eddie’s wide grin, though returned the hug when the older Williams-man wrapped his arms tightly around his shoulders. “He didn’t fly for ten hours so that you could be his biggest fanboy.”
Steve grinned sheepishly, lifting a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. “It’s alright, Danny-,” he shrugged slightly, though his grin softened as Charlie came running, backpack in hand as he wanted to show his grandpa the latest additions to his group of action figures. It didn’t take a lot more for Eddie to almost seem as if he had forgotten Steve and his years of service, instead turning to the couch with his grandson. In turn, Steve turned fully to Danny, the smile still having the corners of his mouth turned upwards. “Besides, he was just promising me that he’d get around to telling me all the stories of how your former colleagues in the Jersey police had their fun with you while you were the boot of the squad.”
Once again, Danny rolled his eyes, shifting his grip on Charlie’s bag, only then realising Steve was carrying both of theirs. “Might as well just take you down to the precinct, and you can get the stories from those responsible for it.” He brushed past Steve, though didn’t get far before he turned, making sure the Navy SEAL was following him – and was caught by surprise as Steve bumped into him, huffing out a sharp breath of air at the contact.
“You shouldn’t just abruptly stop walking.”
Rolling his eyes (again), Danny continued walking, leading Steve down the hallway he had lots of fond childhood memories from – playing tag with Matt on summer days, where the whole house and the backyard was used as their personal running track, Bridget and Stella making creative obstacles as Danny would impress them with his skills of driving a remote controlled car (at least he thought they were impressed, but then again, with pre-teen girls he could never be a 100% sure). Steve stopped in his tracks at the door frame to Danny’s room, a goofy grin spreading on his lips as he placed his index finger to the height measurement that was last added, and that coincidentally also happened to be the very same height Danny still stood at. “You stopped growing at sixteen?”
“Shut up.” Danny huffed, furrowing his brows as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sure you did too.”
“No, I shot up nearly four inches the summer after I turned nineteen.” Steve shrugged casually, stepping after Danny into the bedroom. It wasn’t anything of an impressive size, but it was cosy, and it soothed a part of Danny’s soul he hadn’t realised was acting up or being stressed. “Nice touch with the baseball-themed pillow cases.” The Navy SEAL stifled a chuckle as Danny’s cheeks flushed pink. “I won’t make fun of it, Danny, I promise, it’s just … I didn’t really have all of these things, you know? We’ve already established how different our childhoods were from each other.”
Danny sighed a little, dropping Charlie’s bag to the floor, before wrapping himself around Steve’s torso – only this time, neither one of them had thick jackets to restrict their body heats from mixing. “If it becomes too overwhelming, or you need an out, you let me know. I have plenty of places we could go, and I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind looking out for the kids if you need a breather.”
“I’ll be fine.” Steve chuckled, bags dropped to the floor as his arms came around Danny, holding him close to his body. “Besides, with the snowfall I heard was coming, I don’t think it’s wise of us to go anywhere else – other than out in the snow with Charlie, that is.”
He had half expected Danny to squirm in his embrace, wanting to head back down to his kids and his parents, but he remained firmly wrapped around Steve’s torso, relishing in the possibility of hugging without disturbances. However, as he did shimmy his way out of Steve’s embrace, with a large yawn, it was with a promise of a calm night in, and a chance of turning into bed early. While Danny made his way to the kitchen, adamant to kick his mother out of the room as he took full responsibility for dinner, Steve found himself back in the Williams’ living room, where Grace was on the phone with her niece (Steve assumed), and Charlie was still eagerly explaining the stories behind all of his action figures, some older ones, presumably ones that had belonged to Danny and Matt when they were kids, had been added to the mix as well.
“Who made the first move?” Clara asked after quite a while, having come to sit in the recliner after Danny successfully chased her out of the kitchen, her head tilted slightly as she studied Steve with that same look Danny got on his face whenever he would look at him. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”
“I, uh-,” Steve cleared his throat a little, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to think – because which one of them had made the first move? His trail of thoughts were cut off, however, as Charlie came crashing down on him, having long ago perfected the puppy eyes as he now was well aware of the games downloaded to Steve’s phone. “Buddy, not now, eh? It needs to be charged, and you’ve got your grandparents right here.” He ruffled the boy’s hair, half expecting him to return to his grandfather’s side, though was pleasantly surprised when Charlie settled in his lap with a couple of action figures in his hands. “I don’t quite remember, I think, who made the first move. After all these years, and everything we’ve been through, I think we just both kind of fell into it.”
Clara didn’t respond right away, her eyes filling with admiration as she took in the sight of Steve and Charlie, her husband seeming to agree with her unspoken words as he quietly tidied together the toys on the couch. “He loves you.” She spoke after a while, nodding at Charlie, who was far too distracted with the mid-air explosions that apparently were happening right there in the living room. “Well, I think both the boys do, as well as Grace, but from what Danny’s told me, and from what I’ve seen in the short time since you arrived, he’s only like that with you.”
In those few seconds it had taken her to say those words, Steve’s throat had seemed to close up, and he found himself saved by the bell - or Danny - as the detective emerged, shoo-ing everyone to the table to get ready for dinner, requesting for Steve to help him gather the food from the kitchen. It was a nice, simple dinner, done just like Danny had done it time and time again in their kitchen back in Hawaii; a simple lasagna with garlic bread and a salad, and just like when they ate it back home, it was the kids’ (and Steve’s, though don’t tell that to Danny, he would never stop gloating) favourite dish. It was an easy kind of setting, the kind of setting Steve hadn’t experienced a lot with his own family as a kid – the kind of setting that eased the weight of Clara’s words. He figured it must be something about the setting, or maybe the house (or maybe it was the New Jersey air?), but he found Clara to be a lot less in his face than she had been when she came to visit Danny in Hawaii.
The rest of the evening was spent the same way; Steve helped Danny clear the table, enveloping himself around the shorter detective while they did the dishes, before they joined the rest of the family in the living room. This time it was Grace who chatted away, eagerly telling her grandparents about her quest to find the perfect college, and if Danny thought no one caught his grimace at the thought of his daughter growing up, he would have to think again. Charlie had managed to come down from his post-dinner-energy-high, and found himself crashing in Steve’s lap again, sock-clad feet kicked up in Danny’s lap – to at least have some sort of contact with his father as well.
“We should come visit you all in Hawaii soon.” Eddie suggested, immediately having his wife’s eager nodding as a support of his words. “I mean, I haven’t been in a few years, and from what I recall, it’s a wonderful place all year round. Besides, Danny’s mentioned you have a pretty Merc in your garage, Steve?”
Steve flashed a crooked grin. “Yessir. It was my dad’s originally. We would work on it together when I was a kid, and after he passed, I took it upon myself to get her back on the road. It’s been with mixed success, but she’s more or less up and running now.”
“No need to call me sir, Steve.” Eddie chuckled. “You’re family, that means I’m Eddie to you.”
At this, Charlie lit up. “Eddie as in our dog?”
Steve grinned, picking up on the soft chuckle that passed Danny’s lips from beside him. “Almost, buddy.” Danny placed a palm against Charlie’s leg. “Maybe we have to figure out a new nickname-solution there if grandma and grandpa comes to visit?” He suggested further, the eager nodding from his son telling him he had already started the search for a nickname suited for the golden-coloured Labrador back on Oahu.
“So, you have a dog now and everything?” Clara raised her eyebrows, seemingly surprised at the admission of their canine friend. “I thought I could quite vividly remember that you wouldn’t be interested in getting another pet unless you were married, Danny.”
Danny stilled at his mother’s comment, a comment that had also whipped Grace’s attention into action, the teenager staring wide-eyed at her father from the recliner next to Clara. “Actually, Eddie and I were kind of a package deal.” Steve cleared his throat, pressing his elbow gently against Danny’s arm, a weak attempt at grounding him, soothing his nerves. “I was supposed to be a temporary home for Eddie, but he and I have a special bond, and I couldn’t let him leave. So, Danny brought his two kids walking on two legs into the relationship, and I guess you could say I brought my four-legged kid.” If Clara didn’t seem convinced, she had done a good job at schooling her expression, but at his side, Danny had resumed breathing normally, and that was a lot more important to Steve than having to explain any further on why he ended up adopting a dog who had previously worked with the Marines and the DEA.
They sat a while longer, conversation easing into something everyone could participate in, until Charlie started stifling yawns against Steve’s shirt, the Navy SEAL chuckling as he shifted the way his arms were wrapped around him. “Maybe we should get you ready for bed, huh? You’ve got to rest up if all this snow is coming, I’m gonna need you to teach me how to build a snowman.”
“We should let you all turn in for the night.” Eddie was quick to speak, sending his son a short, acknowledging nod as Danny looked at him. “You’ve been travelling since early morning, and as Steve pointed out, there’s going to be quite the snowfall tomorrow. Can’t have anyone falling asleep out there, can we?”
A string of hugs and good nights were shared, Clara and Eddie taking it upon themselves to turn off lights and make sure everything was closed and locked correctly. Upon reaching the row of bedrooms, Danny carefully picked Charlie out of Steve’s arms, mumbling something about him being able to walk fine (which only caused Steve to grin widely in response), before the three of them bunched together in one bathroom to brush teeth and get ready, and if any of them were jealous of Grace who had the bathroom belonging to Stella and Bridget’s old rooms all to herself, well, neither one of them said anything.
Danny took it upon himself to tell Charlie a bedtime story that night, meanwhile Steve paid a visit to Grace, who seemed comfortably at home in her aunt’s room. Pressing a kiss to her head, followed by a mumbled sleep tight, he reunited with Danny in the hallway. “Charlie didn’t want your stories?”
“Never got around to asking, he fell asleep before I was one third into the story I started telling him.” Danny shrugged slightly, a step or two in front of Steve as they moved back to the detective’s old bedroom, quietly changing to their pyjamas, which more or less consisted of Steve’s t-shirts (Danny found he was a lot more comfortable sleeping in Steve’s larger, more loose fitting t-shirts, than his own rather tight ones) and plaid pyjamas pants. “You know, it’s a good thing you’re a snuggler when we sleep, because I had forgotten that this bed was smaller than a double.”
Steve scoffed, though allowed for Danny to settle against him under the covers of the bed, a contented hum escaping the detective. “You know, the one thing that really benefits me by enjoying cuddles is the fact that I can definitely turn you over and use you as a shield if Charlie decides to do a cannon-ball onto the bed in the morning.” His tone was warm, teasing even, as he wrapped his arms tighter around Danny, the detective sleepily mumbling a response of something against Steve’s shoulder. “Alright, good night, Danno.”
They slept soundly most of the night, only waking once to the sound of a plough truck clearing the roads of snow outside, having them mumble incoherent sentences about having to spend some time outside with Charlie, before falling asleep again – and then they didn’t wake until Charlie had, in fact, climbed into their bed, sprawling across them with a goofy grin on his lips. “Good morning.” He giggled, before climbing fully onto Danny’s body, allowing Steve’s eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness of the winter sky that was pushing through the curtains. Danny, on the other hand, simply groaned into his pillow, an arm around Charlie’s chest as he tucked the boy into the tight space between himself and Steve, much to the squirming boy’s delight. “No, let me go, Danno, I want to eat breakfast and go outside.” Danny, still with his eyes closed and face halfway buried into the pillow, loosened his grip on Charlie, who immediately squirmed out of the embrace and turned to Steve. “Will you come with me?”
“Yeah, buddy, come on.” Steve chuckled, waiting until Charlie was halfway into the living room before he quickly changed from his pyjamas, and left the bedroom. “Good morning, Clara.” He smiled as he entered the kitchen, having already figured from the smell that she had started making a classic Williams’ tradition, with pancakes for breakfast. Charlie had been lifted to sit on the counter, in a safe distance from the stove, with a glass of orange juice.”
“Good morning, Steve.” She almost chirped happily as a response, though didn’t take her eyes off the fluffy-looking pancake she was cooking. “I hope you’ve slept well, and that the snow plough didn’t wake you too badly. They aren’t always so considerate of the time they decide to make their way through this neighbourhood when the snow’s falling like it is now.” Clara sighed, flipping the pancake before she turned towards the Navy SEAL. “I’ve set out cups for coffee, both for you and for Danny.”
Steve smiled widely, reaching over to ruffle Charlie’s hair, being caught by surprise as Clara wrapped an arm around his torso, pulling him in for a halfway hug. “Thank you, Clara.” He hummed, sneaking an arm around her shoulders to give her a light squeeze, before turning back to the coffee boiler, pouring himself and Danny a cup each of the slightly burnt coffee, made with some local blend (if the bag of coffee ground neatly positioned near the coffee boiler was anything to go by). “I’ll just bring this to Danny. I’ll be back to help with whatever you need soon.”
“Prepare yourself to go outside quite soon after breakfast.” Clara spoke up before he had even had the chance to leave the kitchen, ceramic of the cup warm against his hand as he turned to look at her, evidently curious about what she meant. “Charlie’s been telling me of how he wants to go outside as soon as possible after breakfast, but he’s also adamant of not bringing my husband out. Apparently you’re the only star shining in his sky.”
Steve had half expected her words to come laced with something annoyed, something hurt even, as they were there, with them, Charlie’s grandparents – yet the young boy wanted to include Steve in his every move - but it was nothing of the sort. Maybe it was Danny’s way of making sure Steve didn’t get too overwhelmed by the visit, by the sudden exposure to a family that was a lot closer than the one Steve had grown up with. Chuckling lightly as he saw Charlie’s grin, from where the boy was looking at him over Clara’s shoulder, Steve found himself nodding. “Alright, well, it’s a good thing I brought warm clothes then.”
He handed Danny’s coffee to him with a stubbled kiss to the temple, quickly changing into something he knew from Navy-experience would keep him warm during an outing in the snow. Danny, on the other hand, decided to hang back when Steve made his way back to the kitchen, quickly being ushered out and ordered to sit down by the dining room table with Charlie, where the two of them, alongside Grace and Danny, who at some point had figured it was time for him to drag himself out of bed, the coffee cup still glued to his hands, were served impressive stacks of fluffy-looking pancakes.
“Try not to eat like an animal, please, Steven.” Danny rolled his eyes, though his tone was teasing as he reached out to kick his shin underneath the table. The comment, unheard by Clara (who was in the kitchen again, refilling her own cup of coffee before joining them) and Eddie (who was out ploughing snow in the house’s driveway), only made Steve grin, as Charlie looked between them, a curious look spread on his face. “Don’t worry, Charlie, I’ll tell you later why we call Steve an animal.”
Though still looking between them, the five year old seemed content with the answer, turning back to his mission of devouring his pancakes – and it had Steve wondering if maybe it was Charlie who was the animal when all came down to it. Yet, neither one of them commented on it, instead turning to their own food. Grace kept the conversation going with Clara once she returned to the table, their chatter consisting mostly of things that caused Danny to panic on a good day (college applications, boyfriends, plans for university, if she was ever going to move back to New Jersey), yet in this setting, his legs tangled with Steve’s underneath the table, gaze locked on Charlie who was happily munching away on his syrup drowned pancakes, and with Grace right there at his side, it didn’t even seem as if he noticed her words.
Not surprisingly, Steve and Charlie were the ones who finished their breakfast first, gratefully thanking Clara for the food, before getting ready to head outside. Danny simply chuckled, lifting the coffee cup to his lips as his mother turned to look at him, a cheeky smile spreading on her lips. “You’ve got yourself a third kid there.”
“Tell me about it.” Danny rolled his eyes, sipping his coffee. “They’ve both got a lot of joy in each other’s company, though. I know there was a time where Rachel absolutely hated the idea of Steve being such a big part of Charlie’s life, but now … well, if she still has something against it, she’s doing a good job at keeping her mouth shut.”
“If she sees how happy her son is, she’ll know to keep her thoughts to herself.” Clara simply shrugged, sipping her own coffee. Grace, with her blessed sixth sense (or whatever it was), excused herself from the table with a kiss to her grandmother’s cheek, and hurried off to the room she had been sleeping in. “The way he is with you, with the kids, it’s unlike anything I ever saw from your ex-wife. The way Charlie turns to him? I hope you treasure that, Danny. If anything, I hope it helps you realise that you have nothing to worry about in a relationship with him.” She smiled, trailing off as Charlie poked his head into the dining room, a large and toothy grin flashed in their direction as he announced they would be going outside to make snowmen. “You should teach Steve the secret Williams’ snowman trick, Charlie.” Clara winked at her grandson, receiving an eager nod in response, before he hurried back to the hall, the sound of his and Steve’s laughter mixing as it grew fainter, vanishing behind the sound of the front door shutting. “I hope you see as clearly as the rest of us that he’s not just in it for you, he’s in it for the whole package. You, the kids, the family – he wants it all.”
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it, the whole thing.” Danny leaned back against the hard, wooden chair, not failing to notice the cracking sound of the chair’s back. “Sometime after we admitted it all, and I’d been staying at the house and Charlie had been situated in the room that’s now his, and Steve just kind of blurted it out over a beer on the lanai.”
“Romantic.” Clara chuckled.
“I don’t know, I still think he was way beyond tipsy at the point of the admission, but somehow he didn’t back down from his words the following morning, when he had gotten up early with Charlie and I found them watching cartoons in the living room.” Danny smiled, once again lifting his cup to his lips, sighing slightly into the sip of coffee. “You know, the idea of bringing him here for this visit, it was all Charlie and Gracie?”
Clara hummed, the amusement evident on her face. “I’m not surprised. They’re crazy about him, both of them.” She glanced in the direction of the hall as the front door opened, the sound of someone shuffling inside catching their attention. “Not that you need to worry, he’s crazy about them too, and I’d say he’s crazy about you.”
Eddie made his presence known with a chuckle, his cheeks flushed red from the cold, accompanied with a wide smile and a slight sniffle. “Are you talking about the two who’re having the time of their lives out there? With the rate they’re going at, either one of you should head out with something warm to drink for them, and probably dry mittens for Charlie.”
Danny smiled a little as he leaned forward again, swallowing the last mouthful of his coffee, before getting up. “I’ll head out and make sure they’re alright. Maybe you would like to make your hot chocolate, mom?” He flashed a grin in Clara’s direction, a smile that turned almost giddy when she nodded (it wasn’t like living in Hawaii gave him a lot of chances to drink hot chocolate, when the rest of the island was already ridiculously hot as it was). He stopped by Grace on his way to find a sweater, chuckling to himself at the sight of his daughter sprawled on the bed, happily chatting away with her cousins as they planned what to do when the rest of the Williams-family would drop by. Danny hoped Steve wouldn’t feel overwhelmed at the thought of the family gathering – not that they were all unfamiliar faces. He had met Bridget before, albeit briefly, and the two had seemed to hit it off, and while he hadn’t met Stella, Danny was quite certain she would like Steve – and the other way around.
The air was sharp as Danny stepped out to the porch, the remains of snow that had fallen off shoe soles and been brushed off jackets and pants giving the darkened deck a bright and decorative pattern. Steve had seemed to tap into a Navy-like behaviour, chirping out “yessir!” whenever Charlie asked him to do something, whether it be fetching a new snowball or digging up gravel to make sure they had what they needed to make the snowman’s face. Above them, snowflakes were still falling at a rapid speed from the sky, the small white spots a stark contrast to Steve’s dark hair (because of course he wasn’t wearing a hat).
“Danno, are you going to come help us?” Charlie cheered as he spotted his father on the porch. However, at the sight of his father’s shake of the head, the five year old huffed, before turning back to the pile of snow he was actively digging in, seemingly unbothered by the cold. What he hadn’t expected, though, was for his father to hover over the pile when he looked back up, a wide grin on his lips and the dry mittens in his hands.
“Grandpa told me you might have some cold hands out here?” Danny raised an eyebrow slightly, stifling a chuckle at the sight of his son’s goofy grin, and Danny wasn’t going to lie – he wasn’t very impressed when Charlie tugged his mittens off, wrists red from where the snow had been layering against his skin underneath the sleeve of his jacket, hands freezing cold from having dug around in the snow. “Okay, let’s get these on, and if you can allow your hands to warm up just a little without being underneath the snow, you can get a cup of hot chocolate, yeah?”
“Okay, Danno.” Charlie grinned, carefully tucked the sleeve of his jacket over the hem of the mittens, before running off to sit at the steps of the porch while he waited for Clara to appear.
Steve, on the other hand, wrapped himself around Danny in a matter both of them had come to realise they enjoyed, stubble scraping against his ear, and a freezing cold nose pressing against his temple. “You were right, you know, there is something special about a Jersey winter.” He chuckled, the feeling of his rumble against Danny’s back sending some sort of warmth through his body. “Besides, the snowfall … it’s nice.” Steve added, extending a gloved hand to catch some of the snowflakes. “Maybe we should bring Charlie to Mauna Kea at some point. It’s not Jersey, but it’s the best Hawaii’s got when it comes to snow. He’s already a stellar surfer, he’d be an amazing snowboarder as well.”
Danny simply chuckled, turning them to face the porch as Clara emerged in the doorway, bringing hot chocolate for them all, Charlie already fully engaged in telling his grandmother all about the snowman they were currently building. “I’d prefer for him to be a little older than five before we take him to a volcanic mountain.” He rolled his eyes, though a grin was still tugging on the corners of his lips as Steve nuzzled closer again, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of Danny’s head. Reaching down, he snuck a hand into one of Steve’s gloved ones, and squirmed out of the tight embrace before he tugged Steve along. “Come on, let’s get you warmed up with a hot chocolate.”