Chapter Text
They were in the middle of a boring day of paperwork when Danny got the call. His mother was phoning him about a death in the family.
“I'm calling because your uncle Johnny passed away this past weekend.” Clara Williams spoke on the other line.
Danny hadn't seen or spoken to his uncle Johnny since he was fifteen, so he didn't immediately feel any kind of sadness. “What did he die from?” He asked.
“It turns out he had liver cancer. It was late stage and treatments did little for him.”
“Did you know he was sick?” Danny checked his watch, wondering if it was time to clock out or not.
“No, none of us did. You're Aunt Sheila never reached out to us until he was gone.”
“If you can send me her address, I'll send a condolence card.” He offered.
“Actually, Sheila asked if you would come to the funeral. She said that your uncle left you something and would love to give it to you in person. The wake is Tuesday night and the funeral on Wednesday.”
Danny rolled his eyes and said, “Look mom, I haven't talked to him since I was fifteen and I can't just take off from work.” He was also getting Grace Sunday night and having her to himself for a full week while his ex was in England vising her mother who was having surgery.
“Don't they give you some kind of bereavement leave?”
“I don't know mother, but if they did, it is probably only for immediate family, not Uncles you haven't talked to in years.” He replied with a huff. “Plus I have Grace for the week and I'm not going to take her to a funeral of a man she never met.”
His mother sighed. “Surely Rachel can keep her for a few days and...”
“Let me stop you right there.” He interjected. “Rachel is out of town all next week, which is why I have Grace.”
“Can't someone else take her for a few days?”
“No, Mom, I have to go.” He quickly hung up, putting an end to the conversation. It was time to leave the office anyways and he couldn't wait to get home and get off his leg. His ACL was acting up again and he didn't want to overdo it and risk having to use his brace or cane again.
Steve met Danny as he stepped out of the office. “Hey, you still want me to bring drinks and pizza over tonight?” He asked. There was a game on that Danny wanted to watch and he was determined to make a baseball fan out of Steve.
“Yeah, I've got beer so just make sure you don't ruin the pizza with pineapples.” Danny answered. “I'm gonna get home and put my leg up for a bit. I think my ACL is acting up.”
“Alright, I'll pick up the pizza and head over.” Steve said. “I already placed the order. Apparently, they have an app for that now.”
Danny gave his partner a grin and a pat on the shoulder. “They have an app for pretty much everything now a days.”
They both went their separate ways, meeting back up at Danny's place about a half and hour later. Steve was tempted to get a pineapple and ham pizza just to piss off his partner, but he decided when he put the order in through the app to just get cheese and pepperoni. When he let himself into Danny's place with the extra key his partner had given him, he found the man already waiting on the couch with a couple of longboards and some napkins.
“You started without me?” Steve pretended to be offended and joked. “Well, I guess it's a good thing I asked for extra pineapple on the pizza.”
Danny gave him the evil eye. “There better not be pineapples.” He took a swig of beer and set the other one on the coffee table in front of Steve's spot on the couch.
Steve grinned at him and opened the box. “Don't worry Danno, it's just cheese and pepperoni.” He set the box on the table between the beer bottles and then situated himself on the couch.
Danny put the game on as Steve opened his beer. Then he grabbed a slice of pizza and a napkin. He took a bite. “I swear, this is the best pizza on the island.”
Steve took a swig of his beer and reached for his own slice. “Yeah it's good pizza alright.” It was one of his favorite pizza places.
The watched the game for a few minutes, both quietly eating their pizza. Occasionally, Danny would yell at the TV. It wasn't his favorite team playing, but he was still pretty animated about it. Steve wasn't a big fan of baseball. He found it a little boring compared to other sports.
Danny took a sip of beer. “Man, I can't believe how many home runs they have already and we aren't even to the second inning yet.”
Steve sipped his beer and reached for another slice of pizza. “Hey, you seemed like you were on a pretty heated phone call before we left the office.” He said, eyeing his partner. “I hope Rachel didn't change her mind about leaving Grace with you for the week.”
Danny cocked his head to the side and sighed. “Actually, it wasn't Rachel.” He started to explain. “It was my mother.”
“What'd she want?” Steve asked. Whatever it was, it had his partner very animated and he hadn't looked happy either.
“She called to tell me that my Uncle Johnny passed away, but I haven't seen or talked to him since I was fifteen.” He took a bite of pizza.
“Why's that?”
“He's been rather estranged from the family for many years. When he was a teenager, he got in with some shady guys and he did a lot of things that would disappoint any parent.” Danny elaborated. “I'm talking some pretty serious crimes. Eventually, he straightened his life out and married, but at that point, he'd burned all his bridges with the family.” He sighed. “My mom said that my aunt asked if I would come to the funeral. Said that my uncle actually left me something in the will.”
“Well, when's the funeral?” Steve asked.
“This coming week.” Danny answered. “But I told my mom I couldn't go. I can't just leave work and plus, I have Grace all week while Rachel is out of town.” He took another bite of pizza.
“I think we can manage without you for a few days, buddy.” Steve replied, taking a gulp of beer. “Maybe you should go.”
Danny shook his head. “I wasn't close with him and I don't want to take Grace to a funeral for someone she's never met.”
“If you want, Grace could stay with me while you go to the funeral.” Steve offered. Before he returned to Hawaii, he always seemed a little awkward around kids. When he met Grace though, she instantly had him wrapped around her pretty little finger. He loved hanging out with that munchkin.
Danny gave Steve a stunned look. “You'd really be willing to watch her?” He asked. When he first met Steve, he never thought he'd be good with kids, but Steve had surprised him with Grace. He was so good with her.
“Of course, Danno.” Steve replied with a smile. “I love having Grace around.”
During the rest of the game, Danny mulled over Steve's offer to take Grace. Steve was a danger magnet, but he also trusted Gracie's life with the man. He knew he would do anything to protect her. He didn't really want to go to the funeral, but it seemed important to his Aunt and his mother so maybe he would take the man up on his offer.
The next morning, Danny called his mother to tell her that he would be attending the funeral. He would fly out to Jersey Monday morning and fly back to Hawaii on Thursday. After talking to his mother, he then had to talk to Rachel. She didn't seem too happy about Danny leaving her with Steve, but she knew how protective the SEAL was and couldn't very well change her own plans. Plus, the thought of spending time with her Uncle Steve had Grace super excited.
Monday morning came and Danny made sure he had everything packed for Grace to stay with Steve. He'd had his own stuff packed the night before. Steve pulled up in his Silverado and waited for the pair to come out. He was dropping Danny off at the airport, before he took Grace to his house for a day on the the beach. She was quite the fish in the water and she loved swimming at his house. She also loved to play in the sand.
Danny walked out from the house with Grace behind him. He set their bags down long enough to lock the door before he picked them back up and headed to the truck. Grace climbed into the back and scooted into the center where she buckled herself in. Danny set the bags next to her on the floor and then he moved to the front seat. “I appreciate the ride to the airport, partner.” He said.
Steve offered a smile. “No problem, Danny.” He looked back at Grace in the rearview mirror. “You ready for some swimming today?”
“I can't wait.” Grace answered. “Oh and we're going to build one of the biggest sand castles.”
“Bigger than the last one we built?” Steve asked, remembering how big their previous one had been. They'd spent nearly three hours on it.
“Yes, way bigger.” She said, moving her arms apart to indicate how big.
“That sure sounds like a lot of fun Monkey.” Danny said, then he turned to Steve. “Now, I've got her bag all packed with clothes and toiletries. I also packed the kids tylenol and kids pepto in case she gets sick. Sometimes spicy food makes her gassy and upsets her stomach a little.”
“Danno!!” Grace sounded embarrassed at that admission from her father.
“Sorry, babe, but it's the truth.” He shot back.
“Don't worry, Danny.” Steve assured him. “I can handle things and I won't give her anything too spicy.”
Steve pulled into the airport and stopped at the curb where the terminal was that Danny needed. “It's hard not to worry, when my daughter is staying with one of the biggest danger magnets on the planet.” He shot back with his hands flailing. “But I trust you with her life, so thanks man.”
“You're welcome.” Steve replied. “I'll try not to attract any danger while you're not here to watch my six.”
Danny exited the car. He opened the back and leaned over to kiss his daughter. “Have fun with Uncle Steve ok Monkey.”
“I will Danno.” She kissed him back and smiled at him as he grabbed his bag and closed the door.
Steve watched him walk into the airport before driving away and heading back to his house. “When we get to the house, you can take your bag upstairs to Mary's old room. Then you can grab your swim bag out of the closet downstairs and get into your suit.”
“Ok, Uncle Steve.”
It didn't take long to make it back to his house. When he parked, Grace excitedly hurried from the truck with her bag over to the front door. She waited impatiently for Steve to unlock it. Once he had the door open, she ran up the stairs to put her bag in the guest room, which was Mary's old bedroom. It wouldn't be the first time Grace had slept there, but Danny had been with her the other time she had slept over.
Steve deposited his keys down on the table by the front door. He set his phone on the coffee table and then made his way to the stairs. By then, Grace was already whizzing by him to get her swim bag from the closet. “Hey, I'm gonna head up and put on my trunks and then we can head out to the beach ok?”
“Ok.” She said with a smile beaming from ear to ear. She went to the hall bath by the kitchen so she could change into her pink bathing suite.
When Steve came down from his bedroom, he saw Grace waiting for him on the couch. “You ready to head to the beach?” He swung a beach towel over his shoulder.
“Yeah, but can we take a snack down with us?” Grace asked.
Steve smiled. “Sure thing. Let's find something in the kitchen.” He was glad he had thought to pick up some things from the grocery store that Grace might like. They walked into the kitchen and he opened the fridge. “How about some strawberries?”
“Oh yes, I love those.” She replied. She spied something over on the far counter. “Are those gold fish crackers?”
Steve spared a quick glance over to where Grace was looking. “Yeah, figured you might like those, since most kids seem to like them. We can have those too.” He reached for a cutting board and a parring knife.
Grace reached for the bag. “Pizza flavor? I've never had this flavor before.”
Steve smiled as he cut the tops of the strawberries off. “They're my favorite ones.” He answered.
“You like goldfish crackers?” She asked, seeming very surprised.
“Yeah, one time when I was deployed, a kid and his mother sent us a bunch of care packages and they had a lot of bags of those crackers in them.” He explained, reaching for a bowl to place the strawberries in. “I thought they were pretty tasty.” He filled the bowl and left the knife and cutting board where it was. “You can bring those down to the beach with us, but make sure you go and grab your towel.”
“Ok, thanks Uncle Steve.” She ran off to the living room where her towel had been left on the couch. Steve met her a second later and together they walked out into the yard and down to the beach. They placed their towels on the two chairs down by the water and the food on the table between them.
Steve sat for a moment and closed his eyes, letting the sun bath him. He could smell the salt water and hear the waves of the water hitting the shore, knowing they wouldn't be too rough for Grace. He loved the water. It was one of the things he missed most about Hawaii after so many years away with the Navy.
“Are you going to swim?” Grace asked Steve, pulling him out of his moment of reverie. She was already at the water, letting it flow over her feet.
Steve smiled and jumped up from the chair. “Of course.” He ran to the water and jumped right in, purposely splashing as hard as he could to get Grace wet.
“Hey...” She walked further into the water and started splashing back with a huge grin on her face.
“How about you show me some of your swimming progress?” Steve suggested. He had shown her some basic swimming, but Rachel insisted that his instruction wasn't enough and had the girl take swim lessons from a professional teacher. The teacher was rather surprised that she didn't think a frickin' Navy SEAL was good enough to teach her daughter, but he wasn't about to turn down the money having an extra student would bring him.
“Ok, Uncle Steve.” She waded out a little further from him and started with the freestyle teaching he had taught her. She did it with ease, alternating her arm movements and fluttering with her feet. She did a turn and swam back.
“That's great.” He replied.
“I've been trying to work on the back stroke, but I can't quite get it.” She said in frustration as she tried to push onto her back. She tried to coordinate her arms, but her head dipped under. She came up quickly, but Steve was at her in a heartbeat.
“Here, let me help.” He placed a hand under her back and guided her into the right position. “Let's focus first on just floating on your back. Once you can do that, it should be easier to do the back stroke.” Grace let him guide her into position. “Now we just need to work on your breathing. If you can relax your body enough and breath just right, you'll find you can float with very little effort.”
Grace tried to relax and let her body just float against Steve's hand. “Like this?” She asked.
He shot her a smile. “That's perfect, now focus on breathing nice and easy, slow and steady.” He instructed then followed with an example. “Just like this.” He said a moment later.
Grace had tried to slow her breathing and make it nice and steady like his. She wasn't sure if she was doing it right, but saw another smile on her uncle's lips. “Is this right?”
Steve had treaded water a few inches away. “You're doing great.” She saw both of his hands and realized he wasn't supporting her anymore. She was floating on her own. “You've already mastered it.” Steve let her float for a couple of minutes as he swam around her. “You ready for that backstroke now?”
Grace switched positions and treaded the water. “Yes, let's try it.”
Steve swam closer and guided her onto her back again and started to instruct her on how to do the backstroke. After a time, she was able to do it, but she wasn't able to swim very far yet. She would need more practice.
“Hey, why don't we head to our chairs and have ourselves a little snack.” Steve suggested, when he realized how pruny their skin looked. They'd been in the water nearly an hour at that point. He also realized in that moment, that he'd forgotten to put any sunscreen on Grace. Danny was going to kill him if Grace got sun burned.
Grace followed Steve out of the water. “I could go for a snack.” She admitted. Those strawberries looked delicious. They both reached their towels and began to dry off.
Steve ran a hand through his hair, giving it a shake to get out any extra water as he used the other hand to move the towel around his body. “Hey, you wait here for a minute ok. I'm gonna go and get some sunscreen.”
“Ok, Uncle Steve.” She sat her wet self in one of the chairs and placed the towel in her hap before she reached for a strawberry.
He ran up to the house, thanking his lucky stars that the sunscreen was sitting just inside the back door on the dining table. He didn't want to leave her out on the beach for too long on her own. She knew not to go into the water unless an adult was out there, but he just didn't want to chance anything while Danny was away. Danny would never forgive him if something bad happened to Grace while he was watching her. He dashed back outside a moment later.
“These are some good strawberries.” Grace said when Steve made it back down to the chairs.
“Well, I'm glad you like them.” He plucked one out and popped it into his mouth. “Mmmm.”
“Did Danno say anything about his uncle?” Grace looked at Steve and asked. “He told me his uncle died, but he didn't want me to go with because I didn't know him.”
Steve ran a hand over his face, not really sure what to say to the young girl. “I don't know a lot about your Dad's uncle. He told me they weren't very close.”
“He was really close with Uncle Matt.” She said. Her face got sad and she added. “I miss uncle Matt.”
“Danno misses him too.” Steve replied. He reached for the bag of goldfish crackers and opened it, taking a few to pop into his mouth. He didn't want to say too much about Matt, since he wasn't sure just how much Grace knew about her uncle and his disappearance.
“So, when can we work on that sandcastle?” Grace asked, quickly changing the subject.
Steve offered up a smile. “Any time you want, but first we need to put on some sunscreen.” He popped a few more goldfish into his mouth and reached for the spray can of sunscreen. Grace stood and put her arms out, letting her uncle spray her down the front and then turned so he could get the back. “Perfect.”
“I'll go get the sand tools.” Grace said, running up to the house and to the closet where she kept her swim bag. She pulled out a bucket that had some small beach tools in it and ran back outside.
Steve was already sitting in the sand waiting for her. They sat out there until the late afternoon working on their castle, taking the occasional snack break. Actually it ended up being more of a sand village. He snapped a photo of it and sent it to Danny. Before he decided to take Grace in and work on dinner.
In the kitchen, Steve pulled some beef out of the fridge and set it over by the cutting board he'd left out earlier. Then he went back to the fridge and pulled out some vegetables, setting those over by the meat. He also went back for the jar of soy sauce and rummaged through his cabinets for some sesame oil, garlic powder, and ginger. He wished he had fresh of the latter two ingredients, but the powders would have to do.
Grace walked into the kitchen after changing out of her suit and running a comb through her hair, which had knotted quite a bit after air drying out on the beach. “What's for dinner uncle Steve?” She asked, eyes roaming over the ingredients on the counter. She could see peppers, an onion, some carrot and celery, and even some pea pods. She didn't know what he would be making with all the veggies.
Steve had just cleaned off the cutting board from earlier and was placing his beef on it. “You ever had a stir fry?” He replied with a question. He started to cut his beef into strips.
“Yeah, Mom makes them sometimes, but not Danno.” She said. “He likes to cook pasta and Italian food and he makes the best pancakes.”
Steve smiled at that. “Yes, he does make some pretty good pancakes.”
“That's a lot of veggies.” Grace noted.
“It's one of the things I love about a stir fry, Grace.” Steve replied. “You can put in lots of healthy vegetables. Why don't you go and put something on tv while I cook this.”
“Ok...” She turned and walked back into the other room where he could hear the TV come to life.
Steve finished cutting his meat and set it aside. He cleaned the cutting board again and started slicing his vegetables. His pocket started to ring, where he'd slipped in his phone after they came into the house. Wiping his hand on a towel nearby, he reached into his pants and pulled it out. Danny's name lit up the screen, so he hit answer and then selected the speaker phone function so he could still cut while he talked. “Hey, partner.” He greeted.
“Hey, Steve.” Danny replied. “How's my monkey?”
“She's great, Danno.” Steve continued cutting. “We spent most of the day and the beach, and yes, I used sunscreen.” He wasn't about to admit that he'd nearly forgot to use it. “She's really becoming a great swimmer. Did you see our sand village?”
“Yeah, it was quite impressive. What are you doing now?”
“Just working on some dinner while Grace is watching some TV.” Steve answered. He got his pan ready on the stove and turned the burner on. “What time is it there, shouldn't you be in bed now?”
“It's about 10:30. We're six hours ahead here.” Danny informed him. “I was just getting ready for bed and wanted to see how things were going.”
“They're going great.” Steve had added oil to his pan and was now adding his meat. “You don't need to worry.”
“How long have you known me, Steve? I always worry. It's built in my DNA.”
“You need to work on that, buddy.” Steve said. “Look, I've gotta finish up dinner here.”
“Yeah ok. I'll let you go. Oh and tell Grace I'll try and talk to her tomorrow.”
“Ok, will do.” Steve said and they both ended the call. He finished up dinner and walked the two plates out to the dining room table, calling Grace over. She didn't turn off the TV before she ran over to eat so they both had to listen to “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea...” God, he hated that song and that show.
The next morning, Steve had to head into the office to finish up some paper work for their previous case. He had Grace with him, so he situated her in Danny's office with some paper to draw on and her iPad to play games or watch videos on while he worked in his own office.
Chin poked his head into Steve's office. “Hey, hows it going with Grace?” He asked.
“Everything is fine.” Steve answered, looking up from his computer. Then he scrunched his face up in irritation. “Except that Grace made me watch a marathon last night about some sponge guy who lives in the sea. I think I lost a few brain cells watching it.”
Chin gave a laugh. “You mean Sponge Bob Squarepants?”
“Yeah.”
“Friends of mine have a son who is obsessed with it.” He shot back, feeling the need to explain how he knows about it.
“Well, I hope there isn't another marathon on tonight.” Steve said.
“Kono's going to get some subs from that little sub shop a few blocks over. You want the usual?” He asked. They'd ordered there before.
“Sure and ask Grace what she wants.” Steve replied. “I don't know if she can eat a full sub.”
“Great.” Chin ducked out and headed over to Danny's office to get Grace's order.
A short while later, Kono came into HQ with a bag of subs. They all crammed into Steve's office and ate together. Grace told the cousins of her sand village and how she learned how to float perfectly thanks to her Uncle Steve. Then, Danny called as they were finishing up.
“Hey, Danno.” Steve answered.
“Hi. I can't talk long because I'm at the wake, but I wanted to talk to Grace.”
“Sure thing, I'll get her.” Steve walked out of his office and over to Danny's. He opened the door and slid inside to find Grace humming along to some music video she was watching. “Hey, Grace. Danno wants to talk to you.”
Grace let out a big smile and set her iPad down so she could reach for the phone. Steve could only hear Grace's side of the conversation. “Hi, Danno.”
“Yes I had lots of fun yesterday. I wish we lived in a house with a beach.”
“We had a stir fry for dinner and then we had sub sandwiches today for lunch.”
“OK, I love you too Danno, bye.” She handed the phone back to Steve.
Steve put the phone back to his ear, but quickly realized that the pair had hung up the phone. He pocketed his phone and moved back to his office where he spent the next few hours finishing up some paperwork and working on a budget that the governor had requested. When he finished, he got Grace and they headed home.
“What's for dinner?” She asked her Uncle.
“I haven't decided yet.” He replied. “Anything specific you want?”
“Well, Danno doesn't like pineapples and I could really go for a ham and pineapples pizza.” She said grinning.
Steve let out a chuckle. “I don't know what he has against pineapples, but I think we can do some pizza. I'll put the order in when we get home.”
They reached his house and he ordered their pizza before he went upstairs to change into some cargo shorts and an old Navy t-shirt that he got from a friend who served on the U.S.S. O'kane. It had the ships crest on the back along with it's name. And ship number, DDG 77. He'd never been on the ship himself, but he never minded any of the time he spent on the numerous Navy vessels over the years.
When he made it back downstairs, he found Grace reading one in the series of Narnia books. He remembered reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when he was a kid, but he'd never read the series. In fact, he didn't know it was a series until he saw commercials for the movies that had come out. “How's the book, Grace?”
She looked up from the pages. “It's pretty good. This one is about Prince Caspian.”
“I never did read all of them, but I'm glad you like it.” He replied, almost jumping when there was a hard knock on the door. He didn't expect the pizza to arrive so quickly. He opened the door and quickly paid the man before accepting the warm pizza. “Ready to eat?” He asked as he walked back towards the dining room table.
“Oh yes, I can't wait for some pizza.” Grace said excitedly and she ran to join him. He passed her a napkin and she dug in. “Danno never orders any pizza with pineapples.”
“Well, he just doesn't know good food.” Steve joked, getting a good laugh out of Grace. He grabbed a slice and bit into it. “So I was thinking that maybe tomorrow we could go hiking out to Manoa falls and then maybe hit up Scoops after for some ice cream.”
“Ooo, I love waterfalls.” She said, mouth full of pizza.
“Great.” He replied, taking another bite of his pizza.
The next morning, Steve had Grace up and out of the house by 8AM. He had packed a small bag with a compact first aid kit, some granola bars and beef jerky, sunscreen, and a bottle of water for the two of them to share. He also made sure he had one of his trusty knives strapped to his belt on his pants. It was one he carried whenever he went camping or trekking through the jungle. Before they started on their trek to the falls, he made sure he sprayed Grace down with sunscreen.
Grace walked ahead of Steve by a few feet. She was eyeing some flowers along the trail. She stopped for a minute and bent down to smell them. She moved on a moment later and pointed out into the forest. “One of those trees came down.” She said.
Steve caught up to her and followed her pointing finger. “That must have come down in that big storm we had a couple of weeks ago.” He replied.
They continued walking through the forest and Steve was surprised that they didn't encounter any rain while on the trail. He knew given the rainforest conditions, that rain was sometimes quite frequent there. They quickly made it to the falls as other visitors walked around them. “I haven't been here in a while.” Steve admitted. With work lately, he hadn't had a lot of time for hiking and other outdoor adventures.
“I love it, Uncle Steve.” Grace said as she eyed the waterfall.
Steve pulled out his phone and turned on the camera. “Hey, let's get a picture for Danno.” He suggested. “Then we can have a little snack before we hike back.”
Grace turned around and stood in front of the falls. She put on her best smile for her Dad and let Steve take her picture.
An older woman walked up to them. “You have a beautiful daughter.” She said to Steve.
Steve pursed his lips in surprise. “Oh no, she's not...”
Grace stepped towards them and interjected. “He's my Uncle Steve.” She said to the lady.
“Oh, I see.” The woman looked at Steve. “You're a great uncle to be taking your niece hiking.”
Steve offered up a quick smile. “Thanks.”
The lady walked away and Grace asked. “Who was that lady?”
“I don't know.” He answered. “I think she's just here to see the falls.” He pulled up his text messages on his phone and quickly sent the new picture to his partner.
Back in Jersey, Danny sat in the living room of his Aunt Sheila's house. They'd just had the funeral that morning for his uncle and then convened at her house for some food. His phone dinged so he pulled it from his pocket, smiling when he clicked the message and saw his beautiful daughter with a waterfall for the backdrop.
“What are you smiling about?” His mother asked, sitting next to him.
He flashed her his phone screen. “Grace went to a waterfall today.” He replied. “She's having lots of fun without me.”
“Well, I'm glad she's having fun.” Clara said. “I'm also glad you came here for the funeral. Your aunt asked if I would let you know she'd like to see you in the garage.”
He looked at her confused for a second, almost forgetting that she had something his uncle wanted him to have. “Oh, ok.” He replied rubbing his hands together and taking a deep breath. He stood and moved to the back door of the house that led out to the garage. For a millisecond, he briefly thought about how he missed Hawaii. He pushed that thought away and told himself he was just missing Grace, not Hawaii. He made it to the garage and opened the door. “Sheila?”
Sheila was standing on the far side of the garage next to a built in work bench. “Hello, Danny.” She said with a soft smile. “I'm so glad you could come.”
“Of course, I wouldn't have missed this.” He lied.
“Well, I know you weren't close with Johnny, but he went and saw one of your games when you were in school.”
“He saw me play?” Danny asked curiously.
“Yes he did. He loved baseball and when he found out one of his nephews played, he just had to see a game. You're mom wasn't too thrilled about him going, but you're father told her not to worry about it.”
“Wow, I didn't know that.” He was genuinely surprised.
“You're the only one who loved baseball as much as he did.” She said. “That's why he wanted you to have these.” She opened a box on the work bench and pulled the first object out.
Danny noticed how long it was and quickly realized it was a baseball bat. “Is that an old bat of his? Did he ever play?” He asked.
Sheila shook her head. “No, but he acquired this somehow.” She explained. “It has some name on it, I think it was Mickey Mantle.”
His eyes grew wide in shock. “Wait, the Mickey Mantle?” He moved closer to see the object.
She rolled the bat over to expose the signature. “Yes and there's one other thing in here too.” Danny took the bat and looked it over. He couldn't believe what he was holding. She pulled a smaller object out. “This was signed by Joe DiMaggio.”
Danny focused on calming his breathing as he set the bat down on the work bench and reached for the baseball card that nestled in a plastic protective sleeve. “Joe DiMaggio? Wow!”
“I have no use for these and he always said that if I ever parted with them, he'd want you to have them.” Sheila said.
“This is amazing.” Danny replied. “But I can't accept these. This is too much and I wasn't even close with the guy.”
She let out a soft smile. “I know you weren't close, but I can't think of anyone else to give them too and he insisted that you were the one to have them. So please take them.”
“Wow, thank you Sheila.” He replied shooting her a quick smile back. He couldn't believe what she had given him. Now, he didn't know if the signatures were real or not, but he was just surprised that his Uncle had thought of him over the years. He put the items back in the box and carried it with him back into the house.
Steve and Grace walked up to the ice cream place. Scoops was pretty busy, but they had some of the best ice cream on this side of the island. It would be worth the wait. As they made their way to the door, Steve brushed passed a man a little too closely. “Sorry, man.” Steve said without looking up at him.
The man looked down at Grace and gave a menacing smile at the girl. She instantly knew that face and burrowed into Steve's side. Steve was confused at the sudden clinginess of the little girl, so he looked down at her and asked her what was wrong. “Hey, what's going on? Are you ok?” He stopped them before they got to the door and let some other people walk around them.
Grace slowly lifted her head to look at her uncle. “I know that man.” She answered.
For a minute Steve didn't know what man she was talking about and spared a quick glance around the area. Then it hit him. “The man I bumped into?” He quickly whipped his head around to find the guy only to see some teenagers walking up.
Grace nodded. “He used to work at my school, but he was fired.”
Steve blinked a few times and pursed his lips. “What, why was he fired?” He asked.
“He followed me into the bathroom once and he watched me at recess.” Grace explained. “He tried to touch me and I screamed and ran for my teacher.”
Wait, did his partner know about any of this? Surely, Danny would have mentioned something to him. “You're Dad never mentioned any of this Grace, did he know about this?”
“I don't know.” Grace replied. “Mom had him fired and she said that Danno would be angry when he found out about it.”
“Ok, well I think he's gone now.” Steve took another quick look around to make sure. “I won't let anything happen to you while Danno is gone ok?”
“Ok.” She nodded.
“Now, let's get some ice cream.” He said with a smile. “I'm thinking I need some mint chocolate chip.”
“Oh, I like that one, but I wonder if they have cookie dough ice cream.” Grace replied, easing away from Steve, but not moving too far.
They went in and enjoyed their ice cream. Grace talked all about their hike to the falls and how pretty the falls were. She was having the best time with her uncle. She also said she missed her Danno and couldn't wait for him to get home so she could spend the rest of the week with him.
Later, the duo went back to Steve's house. He and Gracie did some more swimming. She almost had the back stroke down, just needed a smidge more work on moving her arms properly so she could swim longer. When they had finished that, Steve worked on dinner, serving up some bratwursts on the grill with corn on the cob and a small side salad. Then they moved on to dessert, which was a bowl of popcorn while they watched a movie.
Steve was scrolling through the stations on the TV trying to find something suitable for a kid when he landed on Die Hard of all things. Grace giggled when she saw John McClain come on the screen. “Hey it's that cool Christmas movie.”
Steve was surprised that she knew the movie. “Don't let Danno hear you calling this a Christmas movie.” It was something he and his partner argued about every Christmas. “I didn't know you've seen this movie.”
“I've only seen parts of it.” Grace admitted. “Danno wouldn't let me watch the whole thing.”
“Oh well then maybe we should find something else...” He started to reach for the remote.
“No...” Grace looked at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes. “Can we please watch it Uncle Steve? I promise I won't tell Danno you let me. Please!”
Grace was getting older now, so maybe she could handle it. Aside from a lot of gun violence, the only other thing the movie had that Danno might not approve of was a few swear words. Even then, the TV version usually had them edited. He sighed and caved. “Ok, but Danno never hears about this.” He said, passing Grace the popcorn bucket.
“Deal!” She replied with a grin, grabbing a handful of popcorn.
A few hours later, Steve awoke on the couch. The movie was long over and there was some infomercial on about Flex Seal. He moved his arms to stretch and straightened his back. He was in full alert SEAL mode. Clearly something had woken him. Glancing down at Grace next to him, he realized it wasn't her. She was sleeping rather soundly. He heard a noise out front, so he carefully turned to the window behind him and peaked under the hem of the curtain. There was a strange car in his driveway, but he didn't see anyone out there. He had a bad feeling. “Grace.” He shook her gently, but spoke in a rushed tone. “Gracie.”
Grace opened her eyes and pulled her head back when she realized how close her uncle was to her face. “Did we fall asleep?” She asked groggily.
“Yeah, we did.” He answered. “But I need you to do something for me.”
She started to sit up. “What is it?” She figured he probably just wanted to get her to bed. She didn't catch the urgency of his voice.
He pulled her off the couch and took her over to the stairs. “I need you to hide in here for a bit ok and don't come out until I tell you to.” He opened the crawlspace under the stairs where he'd once hidden a general and his family before. “Take my phone. If I don't come back in ten minutes, I want you to call Chin or Kono.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and slipped it into the girl's hand.
Suddenly Grace worried. “What's going on? I'm scared.” She replied. Taking the phone.
“It's gonna be ok, I won't let anything happen to you.” Steve assured her. He reached in to give her quick hug before he closed the door. In that same moment, he heard glass breaking from somewhere in the back of the house. It sounded like someone had come in from the lanai. He moved from the stairs cautiously over to the wall and peaked into the dining area and sure enough a pane of glass was broken on the door. It was open, letting in the ocean breeze. He didn't see anyone, so he faced the living room and saw a man coming towards him.
The man aimed a gun at him. “Where's the girl?” He snarled.
Steve inwardly cursed the fact that he didn't have his own gun. It had been tucked away upstairs with his badge in his nightstand by the bed. “What girl?” He pretended not to know what the man was talking about.
“The girl that was with you earlier.” He moved closer to Steve and demanded. “Where is she?”
The guy with the gun was a little shorter than Steve, but a little heavier built. He knew if he could get the gun from the guy, he could easily taken him on. Thanks to his SEAL training and different training in martial arts, he could take on guys sometimes twice his size. So this should be a piece of cake. Ok, he had to try and get the gun first, but than it would be a piece of cake. “She's not here.” He lied. “I took her home to her parents.”
Boom! The gun went off, a bullet whizzing passed Steve and embedding itself in the wall. “I saw her get in your truck and followed you back here. Give her up or the next bullet won't miss.”
The man took another step forward and that's all it took for Steve to strike. He sent a quick karate chop into the man's wrist, using the other hand to twist the gun away. He scowled and let the gun go easily. When Steve repositioned the gun, aiming at the intruder, the man fell back a step, but pulled his leg up and shot his foot straight out into Steve's stomach. All the wind left him and he doubled over in pain. That's when the man charged him and started to fight again for the gun.
Steve had been surprised at how quick the man was and how powerful his kick was, but he was determined to keep hold of the gun. They twisted and turned together, grappling for the weapon. Then Steve felt a hard punch to his right side, knocking the wind out of him again. The man then was then able to free the gun from Steve's grasp, but it clattered to the floor a foot or so away from the pair. Another punch came, hitting Steve on the left side before he could even catch his breath. God, he would be sore tomorrow. He decided it was time to use his own fist and punched the man straight in the face. He staggered back as blood gushed from his nose. Steve gave the man a wicked grin, knowing full well he deserved that and more. He went for the gun, but the intruder ran at him and tackled him down.
Steve landed on hard on his right side with a grunt. The intruder rolled him roughly onto his back. “Just give me the girl.” He snarled, lobbing a punch into Steve's gut.
Steve grunted. “NO!” He pushed at the man, easily throwing him off. Unfortunately, the man landed right next to the gun.
Steve sat up just as the intruder pulled up the gun again and aimed. In that moment, it seemed as if time had slowed down. He took a breath, noting the pain in his limbs and watched as a bullet shot out of the gun. It was coming at him in slow motion, but when it hit, it seemed time had caught up and he fell over quickly in pain. Blood oozed from his chest and suddenly his breathing hitched. The man came over to him. “I will find her.” He said with an evil grin. “She'll be mine and you will lay here and die.”
Trying to fight the pain, Steve attempted to move. He had to stop the guy from getting Grace, but his limbs wouldn't cooperate. He struggled to breath and looked down to the wound in his chest. It was a crimson shade of red and the spot was getting bigger with each breath he took. His vision started to blur as he heard the man walking through the house, but there was nothing he could do. He was going to fail Grace. Danny would never forgive him.
The intruder made his way through the first floor and then started up the stairs. Maybe Grace was up in one of the bedrooms. He walked each room, getting angrier and angrier when he didn't find her. He had no idea where she could have gone.
Finally giving up, the man walked back down to Steve who laid bleeding on the living room floor. “I will find her eventually.” He said very seriously. With that said, he lifted his foot and forced it down one last time into Steve's gut before he left.
Steve's eyes burst open at full mast when he felt his ribs crack. He screamed out against the pain, but soon felt his consciousness waning. His vision grayed and his eyes started to close.