Work Text:
At first, Danny didn't think he heard quite right. He'd read up on all the statistics for the likelihood of a single dad getting custody, knew that between his job and the fact that his family were all back in Jersey, he didn't exactly present the perfect option here, and the prospect of losing Gracie had been eating him alive for months. But when he blinked, pinched his hand under the table, the judge was still talking and she was still saying the same thing: primary custody to be awarded to Danny, given how settled Grace seemed to be on the island and the fact that Stan's job seemed likely to transfer him again several more times in the coming years.
"That you also brought such strong character references," the judge said, looking over the rim of her glasses towards where Steve was sitting straight-backed next to the governor, and Danny wasn't sure he even wanted to know the kind of favour Steve had called in for that one, "and seem to be establishing solid roots here are also factors in your favour, Mr Williams."
Rachel and Stan got big chunks of the summer and alternate holidays, and there were financial things still to be finalised and forms to be signed, but Danny tuned out a little bit in an attempt to keep his jaw from dropping, or from asking the judge if she was really sure. He shook hands with the lawyers, with Stan—even with Rachel, because he didn't feel they were on hugging terms right now, but even when they'd been at their worst he'd never hated her, and now she looked tired and sad and Danny didn't relish the fact that he was taking her daughter away from her.
But he was glad, glad that he wasn't going to lose Grace—happier than he could remember being since the first time the nurses had put his baby girl into his arms. He sat until the court room emptied out—theirs was the last hearing of the day—taking some deep breaths to compose himself, to work through the first shaky moments of relief. He had his team, sure, and his apartment, his job, his friends, but this was maybe the first time since he'd come to Hawaii that he felt certain that both his feet were planted on solid ground. After a couple of minutes he swiped at his eyes a bit and then stood, turning to find that the room was only almost empty.
Steve was standing in the middle of the aisle, hands crossed in front of him, uniform hat tucked under one arm. He looked pleased and smug in equal measure, which, he had persuaded the governor to come speak on his behalf, so Danny was inclined to be lenient.
"Congratulations," Steve said.
"Your tie's crooked again," Danny mock groused, but just for the sake of form—otherwise he knew he was in danger of smiling so big his head'd fall off.
Steve's broad shoulders lifted and dropped under the heavy fabric of his suit. "Mostly back to kama'aina now."
"Mostly?" Danny said, pushing through the little gate and letting it swing shut behind him. "I'm suspicious of your mostly, Steven. Your mostlys often involve small arms fire and the occasional grenade."
Steve scratched at his jawline, where some stubble was already starting to grow back despite Steve's close shave that morning. "Naval efficiency," he said, in a shifty enough tone that Danny really doubted he was talking about three-minute showers.
"Naval efficiency," Danny said flatly. "Explain."
"Well," Steve said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "We're already in the courthouse, and they have a slot open for five o'clock, and the Governor was able to pull some strings, waive most of the paperwork. Plus I'd only have to wear a tie once in a month. And I know it's not exactly… I mean, we can't do it properly here, but even if it's just a civil union, we know what we'd call it and—"
Danny clapped a hand over Steve's mouth, feeling a hot puff of startled breath against his fingers. "Okay, so perhaps when I said 'explain', you heard 'waffle.' Let's do this with gestures: nod for yes, shake for no. Are you, Steven J. McGarrett, asking me, Daniel L. Williams, to marry you?"
Steve nodded. His eyes were very wide.
Danny dropped his hand.
"Are you—" Danny thought back to that morning, to Steve looking just as nervous as Danny felt when they'd rolled out of bed; to a couple weeks back, when Steve had gotten some letters he hadn't opened along with the rest of the bills; to the way Steve had been dropping some hints lately, even less subtly than usual, about how Steve's house had all this space and Danny's apartment lease would be up in a couple of months. "How long have you been planning this? Were you—" He stopped and looked at his watch and blinked. "You really want us to be engaged for a grand total of a half hour?"
"Thirty nine minutes, Danno."
Danny rolled his eyes. "For thirty nine minutes before we get married?"
Steve said nothing, just arched his eyebrows and looked at him.
When the realisation hit, Danny groaned and rolled his head back on his shoulders. The plaster on the ceiling was greying and covered in cracks fine as spider webs. "We've been engaged for two years, haven't we?"
"Pretty much," Steve said. He sounded amused and indulgent and hey, with the smug, and somewhere over the past twenty four months, Danny had come to think of that combination as a weird sort of aphrodisiac.
"Well," Danny said, "if you insist, then… yes. But I am going to insist that first, we have a little making out, in honour of our betrothal."
"Betrothal?" Steve said, eyebrows quirking.
Danny gestured at the dress uniform. "Well, you are an officer and a gentleman, aren't you?"
Steve pretended to think it over. "The first one, definitely. The second… eh."
Danny was not so surprised to find that Steve didn't kiss like much of a gentleman, even when he was in uniform—though hey, they were apparently going to get hitched in a few minutes, Danny was using everything he knew about the way Steve's body responded fastest in order to get him hot under the collar. They didn't have time to get too carried away, though. After a minute or two, the door to the courtroom creaked open, and Danny broke away and looked around Steve to see Grace peeking around the door.
"Hey! Hey, monkey," he said, walking over as Grace pushed the heavy door the rest of the way and putting his arms around her. He dropped a kiss on her head, heart full to bursting all over again at the thought that he was going to get to make her breakfast and nag her about homework and make sure she had enough sunblock on every day from now on. "What're you doing here? Me and your mom agreed that you'd stay with your Aunt Kono for the evening, there's no need for you to—"
"Is it time yet?" Grace interrupted him, taking one of his hands in her and tugging on it. "Auntie Kono's waiting out in the hall. C'mon, Danno! We don't wanna be late!"
Danny looked down at her and realised that her sparkly flats and brightly patterned dress weren't her usual Friday afternoon attire, and her hair was braided elaborately enough that it looked like the work of a pro. "Late for what?"
"Me and Auntie Kono got our hair done at the salon, and Uncle Chin's going to take the photos, and Max and Kamekona are here, and Uncle Steve said I could be the flower girl. I still can, right Danno?" She grinned up at him and then did a twirl, skirt flaring out around her.
Very quietly, out of the corner of his mouth, Danny said, "My daughter knew I was getting married before I did?"
Very earnestly, Steve answered, "Couldn't ask you without getting her permission," and seriously, this goof—Danny didn't know what he'd done to deserve him.
"Go tell your Auntie Kono we'll be right out," Danny said, tugging gently on the end of one of Grace's braids.
"Okay!" Grace said. "And there's chocolate cake for afterwards too!"
As soon as the door clattered closed behind her, Danny grabbed Steve's face in his hands and kissed him, fierce and hot as he knew how, licking into Steve's mouth and sucking at his lower lip and feeling sweat prickle along his hairline. Steve blinked at him afterwards and said, a little breathless, "What was that for?"
"Because," Danny said, grinning at him, poking him in the chest with a finger, "you are an officer and a gentleman."
"You're being really flirtatious with a guy who's just about to get hitched, you know," Steve said, poker faced. He laughed when Danny smacked him on the arm and took his hand, hauling him outside and along towards the JP and all their I dos—and would you look at that, Danny thought as they headed down the corridor surrounded by all their friends, looked like the ground was pretty stable beneath his feet after all.