Archive of Our Own

Steve had been pacing his office all day, much to the amusement of his team. Chin and Kono had been passing cash back and forth since ten a.m., betting not only the reason for the pacing, but when he would break and come out of his office and seek out the person for the pacing.

Danny, for his part, was pretending not to notice Steve’s pacing or the cousins gambling. While he couldn’t say with a one hundred percent accuracy the reason Steve was so nervous, a jumpy Steve was an amusing Steve and Danny wasn’t going to lie… whatever had crawled into Steve’s cargo pants and currently creating a hole in the carpet was always funny, just as long as it wasn’t anything to do with his father, Joe White or a case.

For some reason, Danny could tell, none of those things could be the case. This was a different kind of nervousness. Steve kept flicking his eyes over towards Danny’s office and wiping his hand over his thighs as though cleaning the sweat from his palms. The “covert” glances Danny’s way were beginning to get to Danny, though.

They had started out innocently enough. Just a few, here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary between the two of them. They always had a habit of checking on the other throughout the day. But as the day wore on and Danny continued slogging through his paperwork, he could feel Steve’s eyes on him more and more.

Finally, around three p.m., it was Danny who couldn’t take it any longer. He cracked under the proverbial pressure after he caught Steve’s eyes dart away from his for the millionth time that day.

Sighing, he rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Okay, this is crazy,” he mumbled under his breath as he got up and pushed away from his desk. “The man is a menace. I swear to god.”

As he reached his door, he watched as Kono made a beeline to Chin’s office. By the time he got to Steve’s door, he glanced over to Chin’s office to witness Kono’s scowl as she smacked a couple of bills in Chin’s serenely stretched out palm.

Danny narrowed his eyes and vowed to corner those two later. First things first.

“Okay, McGarrett!” Danny bellowed as he flung open Steve’s door, startling Steve in his pacing, causing him to jump back and bump into the corner of his desk. “What the actual fuck is your problem!”

“Wha-?” Steve replied dumbly, trying to regain his balance against his desk.

“What is your problem?”

“What’s yours?” Steve countered, folding his arms across his chest and looking down his nose at his partner.

Danny rolled his eyes. That trick never worked with him and Steve knew it. Why Steve still tried that dominant stance with him, he never understood.

“You’re my problem, buddy,” Danny answered instead. “You’ve been eyeing me up, down and sideways all day, like you’ve got something important to say. What? You gonna fire me or something?”

Steve collapsed so thoroughly at that, that he half sat, half sagged on the corner of his desk, head hanging between his shoulder blades.

Danny frowned when Steve didn’t reply to his joke.

“Seriously? You gonna fire me?”

“What?!” Steve yelped as his head snapped up and he stared at Danny incredulously. “What?”

But now it was Danny’s turn to pace. “What the fuck, McGarrett?” Hands spinning in circles. “You had to find a nice, easy way to break it to me gently, is that it?!” He paced right up into Steve’s face, his own practically fire engine red. Finger pointing into Steve’s chest. “You spent all damned day in here trying to find the right words to tell me I’m fucking fired? Is that it?!” Jab. Jab. “Well, let me tell you something, McGarrett, I…”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Steve yelled, slapping Danny’s finger away from his chest.

Danny’s blue eyes glittered in anger as his hand was smacked away. “You being too much of a pussy to come out and fire me; instead spending all damned day in your office hiding. Just come out and say it, you fucker!”

“Say what?!” Steve stood up and looked down at Danny, confusion marring his features. “I don’t want to fire you. Where the hell did you come up with that idea anyway?”

Danny blinked at him, pointing at his chest, anger still rolling under the surface. “You just said…”

“No,” Steve denied. “You just said. I didn’t say anything.”

Danny stood with his finger still against Steve’s chest as he replayed their conversation and realized that he’d so totally jumped the gun by about a million miles. He dropped his reddened face. “Oh.”

Steve’s face softened as he sat back down on the edge of the desk. He wrapped his right hand around Danny’s finger and carefully slid his left hand down to capture Danny’s right. He cleared his throat.

“Um, I do have something important I wanted to ask, though.”

Danny looked up, taking in their close proximity and Steve practically holding his hands.

“Yeah?”

“Um, yeah.” However, Steve didn’t continue and the silence continued to stretch. Danny stood between Steve’s knees, hands clutched between Steve’s as he looked anywhere and everywhere except at Danny.

“Steve?” Danny said quietly after several minutes.

Steve jumped like a startled colt, but he looked at Danny. Danny was shocked to see true nervousness in his blue eyes.

Danny squeezed Steve’s hands. “In order to ask the question, your lips have to move and sound must issue from your vocal chords, babe.”

Steve’s lips quirked. “Wise ass.”

“That I am,” Danny preened.

Taking a deep breath, Steve looked Danny in the eyes. “Okay. Danny. Will you go out on a date with me?”

Silence reined in Steve’s office as Danny stared at his partner for several minutes before bursting out laughing.

Of course, it was the wrong thing to do.

Steve scowled, dropping Danny’s hands like they were on fire. He glared down at Danny as he stood up, forcing Danny a few steps back, before stalking around his desk and sitting stiffly in his chair.

Shit! Damage control immediately, Danny thought furiously as he followed Steve around the desk.

“Steve, I…”

“What,” Steve answered, voice angry and clipped.

“I didn’t mean to laugh at you.” Danny stood next to the arm of Steve’s chair, preventing him from moving it around.

Steve scowled harder and pretended to read the paperwork that was on his desk.

When he didn’t answer, Danny continued to explain. “It’s just that you’ve been pacing like a caged tiger all day. I just couldn’t believe that that’s why you’ve been so nervous.”

Steve threw down the pen he was strangling and glared up at Danny. “Well, it’s not every day you ask your male partner out on a date, you know!” Steve practically growled.

Danny inserted himself between Steve and his desk and looked solemnly down at his frustrated friend. “I know and I’m sorry.”

He reached down and gingerly took Steve’s hands in his own. They were balled in angry fists at first, but after a few moments of Danny’s thumb rubbing lightly over the clenched digits, Steve relaxed them enough that they rested loosely in Danny’s palms.

“I am sorry,” Danny reiterated before looking up into Steve’s eyes. “I would love to go out on a date with you.”

Steve’s smile was better than a Hawaiian rainbow… brighter, too. “Okay!”

* * * * *

Steve’s fingers clenched the steering wheel in a death grip, hands placed perfectly at ten and two. If it were still light outside, Danny would be able to see the whites of Steve’s knuckles. Danny smirked and reached out to lay his left hand over Steve’s right.

“Babe?”

Steve flinched and gripped the wheel tighter.

Danny snorted lightly and squeezed Steve’s hand. “You grip that steering wheel any tighter and you’re gonna snap the wheel in half.”

Visibly forcing himself to relax, Steve took a deep breath before flexing his fingers. He frowned momentarily as Danny released his hand but stretched out his fingers, keeping his thumbs hooked under the curve of the wheel to steer the Camaro. Taking another deep breath, he slid his palms down the edges of the vinyl, resting them at the bottom of the wheel.

A chuckle from the passenger seat drew his attention back towards his soon-to-be dining companion.

“What?” Steve asked.

Danny shook his head with a smile and glance back out of the windshield. “Nothing.”

Steve narrowed his eyes and shot a glare at Danny. “It’s not ‘nothing’. What is it?”

Danny merely shook his head in denial and turned back to looking out of the window.

“What?” Steve asked again, aggravation coloring his tone.

Danny shrugged a shoulder and shook his head again. “Nothin’.”

“It’s not ‘nothing’. You’ve got a look,” Steve accused.

Danny slowly turned to Steve with an amused look on his face, eyebrow raised. “Oh, I have a look now, do I?”

“Yes, you do,” Steve huffed, irritation creeping into his voice.

Danny snorted. “Well, right now, you have a tone, Steven. And your tone is implying that you are getting testy.”

“I do not have a tone,” Steve denied.

Danny raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t!” Steve denied louder.

Danny raised his other eyebrow.

Steve opened his mouth to deny further when he realized that perhaps he did have a tone at the moment and he might want to shut the hell up unless he wanted to continue to dig his hole that much deeper.

He clamped his mouth shut.

Danny grinned and reached out his left hand to pry Steve supposedly relaxed right hand off the bottom of the steering wheel.

“Steve,” Danny began. “Babe,” he squeezed Steve’s hand, giving it a small shake. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

“I know,” Steve whispered.

“Of course you do,” Danny answered, patronizingly.

Steve chose to ignore Danny’s joking ‘tone’ and answer honestly. “It’s just that…”

Danny turned in his seat still holding on to Steve’s hand. “What, babe?”

“I just want this to be perfect.”

Danny smiled the rare smile that he usually only reserved for Steve, and even Steve didn’t see it that often. “It will be. I promise.”

Steve returned the smile and threaded his fingers with Danny’s, allowing the tension that had coiled in his body to drain away. Nothing was going to ruin his first date with Danny. Nothing.

* * * * *

They had reached their destination, pulling into the driveway that led up to the main entrance and two valets ran out to open their respective doors for them. Danny’s eyes widened slightly at the display before he rounded the Camaro and joined his partner on the other side of the car.

A few steps toward the entrance, Danny stopped suddenly and reached out his hand, grabbing Steve by the bicep. He extended his other hand, fingers wriggling in the universal ‘gimme’ signal.

“I should have done this before we left. Lemme see.”

“Danny?” Steve asked perplexed. “What…?”

“Let me see your wallet,” Danny demanded, fingers still moving as his other hand tightened its hold on Steve’s arm.

Steve brought up his other arm not currently being grasped and covered his heart in mock-hurt. “Don’t you trust me?”

Danny’s lips curled in disgust in answer.

“Your friend, your partner, your…” Danny’s tightened his hold and the wriggling fingers stilled. Suddenly, Danny shifted the hand that had been gripping Steve’s arm, and it slid down, curving around Steve’s waist, slowly sliding into Steve’s back pocket.

Danny was now pressed up full body against Steve’s arm. “Well, I feel a wallet-shaped bulk back here, but…” And just as quickly, he had the wallet opened in front of him, flipping through its contents. “Hmm, not enough cash for a joint like this,” Danny mused, looking up at the restaurant they stood in front of. “But, oh, look at this,” Danny exclaimed finding some credit cards tucked away behind a flap. “Plastic!”

Danny folded the wallet back up and handed it back to Steve. “You may now wine and dine me.”

Steve snatched the leather from Danny’s hand and shoved it back in his pocket. “Told you I had it,” Steve muttered sulkily, righting his suit jacket, pulling it hard to cover his ass so Danny couldn’t make another run for his wallet.

“Ah, don’t be like that, babe,” Danny coerced, snagging an arm and tugging Steve into the building. “You have to be admit, it was justified considering your past actions.”

Steve was about to deny everything when Danny leaned into him and pulled him down so he could whisper in his ear. “Plus it gave me an excuse to feel you up!”

Anything Steve was about to say in protest about his past issues with his wallet went flying out of the window at Danny’s admission. It was nice to know that they were on the same page. But, then again, they were always on the same page. They might be on different paragraphs, but always the same page ever since day one.

“That’s better,” Danny said, as he strode past Steve on his way inside to the hostess’s table. At Steve’s quizzical look when he caught up to his partner, Danny continued. “Goofy face is much better than aneurysm face.”

Steve just rolled his eyes and sighed in resignation. “McGarrett, party of two,” he told the hostess.

* * * * *

They were seated at a small table at the back of the restaurant, not too far away from the crowd, but far enough away to be intimate.

The waiter came around and Steve ordered them a bottle of wine to start while they perused the menu.

“This is really nice,” Danny commented as he took a sip of his wine, peering around the room for the hundredth time.

Steve snorted. “I am capable of doing nice things, you know.” He lay the menu down to glare across the table at his partner.

“Oh, I’ve no doubt about that, babe. I’m just expecting you to toss a grenade on the table at any moment. Speaking of which, empty your pockets.”

“Wha--?” Was Steve outraged answer. “I will not.”

“I should have checked your suit jacket before we came in here.”

“You already checked my wallet.”

“That was to make sure my dinner was going to be paid for and I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my evening washing dishes.”

“I told you I was paying tonight, Danny. I asked you out, remember?”

“Yes,” Danny answered. “And I remember all the other nights you had asked me out for drinks and conveniently forgot your wallet, too.”

“That was different,” Steve muttered petulantly, hiding his words behind his wineglass.

“Oh really?” Danny shot an eyebrow up in question.

“Yes, really,” Steve snarked back.

“How’s that?”

Steve stared directly at Danny, though his words were softly spoken. “This is important.”

Danny was thankful that the restaurant was dimly lit as his could feel his face flush slightly.

Clearing his throat from his embarrassment, Danny reached out for his wineglass. “Still, shoulda frisked you before we left my apartment,” Danny stated as he took another drink of wine. Then he felt his face heat up further when he realized what he said.

A slow grin spread across Steve’s face and he leaned across the table. “Oh, really.”

Danny kicked him under the table and gave him a crooked grin. “Perv,” he replied. “It would have been purely for my own protection and with the well-being of the patrons of this fine establishment in mind, of course.”

“Uh-huh, of course,” Steve answered smugly.

“Perv,” Danny said again.

“You said that already,” Steve stated haughtily.

“It bears repeating.”

Thankfully the waiter came back around, with a basket of bread, to take their order.

“I’ll have the Ahi Special with the vegetables and a salad. Dressing on the side,” Steve requested.

“Health freak,” Danny muttered as he rolled his eyes at his partner. He looked up at their waiter. “I will have a bowl of your French Onion soup to start. Then I’d like your Filet Mignon cooked medium, please, with a baked potato.” He handed the waiter their menus. “Thank you.”

Steve stared at Danny after their waiter left.

“What?” Danny snipped.

“A vegetable will not kill you, you know.”

“It might.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Fruits and vegetables are good for you. It might…”

“Hey!” Danny interrupted. “Onions are vegetables!”

Steve scoffed as he threw up his hands and sat back in his chair. “Onions in a broth with croutons smothered in cheese!”

“And your point?” Danny asked innocently.

“My point,” Steve stated, “is that the onion in your French Onion soup isn’t healthy.”

“So?”

Steve opened his mouth and then snapped it shut when he realized he honestly didn’t have anything to say to that.

Danny sat across from him with a huge smile and took another drink of his wine.

“I hate you,” Steve finally said.

Danny’s grin widened.

Their soup and salad came not long after. Danny dug into his soup with the enthusiasm of a man starved, though it was probably more to gross Steve out than anything else.

“You want some?” Danny offered sincerely, reaching out a spoon laden with broth, onions hanging off the edges, heaped with bread and dripping with cheese.

Steve jerked back as though the spoon and its contents were going to poison him just by being in the same air space.

“Get that away from me!”

Danny grinned and shoved the spoon into his mouth. “Mmm,” he moaned, closing his eyes, savoring the flavor.

“You’re disgusting,” Steve sneered, though Danny’s moan was doing the opposite of disgusting him. It was actually turning him on more than he was willing to admit. Damn, Danny looked so good! I wonder if he sounds like that when… NO! No thinking that here! “I don’t know how you can stomach that crap!”

“It’s the four basic food groups, babe. Veggies, carbs, dairy and meat.”

Steve furrowed his brow. “Where’s the meat?”

Of course he had to ask that just as Danny was taking a bite of his soup, and he inhaled the broth in the wrong direction, choking on the liquid.

“Danny! You okay?!”

Danny waved around an arm, still choking and laughing, reaching out his other hand for his glass of water. He would take a gulp of water, take one look at Steve and break down in laughter all over again, which would start him coughing again.

“Danny!”

Danny coughed and gagged to the point that Steve worried that he was going to have to take him to the hospital.

“What the hell is so funny?” Steve demanded once Danny stopped coughing and his laughter died down to muffled giggling.

Danny’s face was beat red at this point, but he was still chuckling. “’Where’s the meat’, Steve? Really? And you have to ask what’s so funny?”

Steve looked at him with a blank face.

Danny wiped the tears from his cheeks. “Really? You don’t get it? ‘Wendy’s’ commercial back in the 80s?”

Steve’s blank look intensified and he shook his head.

“Oh my god! Were you raised by wolves?!”

Steve’s face finally broke out into a grin.

“You bastard!” Danny bitched, smacking his arm. “You knew all along.”

Steve gave Danny an incredulous look. “Of course I did, Danny. You’d have to be living under a rock not to. And it was ‘where’s the beef’, not ‘where’s the meat’.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “I know that, dummy. It just reminded me of it, that’s all. It was funny.”

Steve stabbed his now full fork in Danny’s direction. “And to get back on topic… You mind telling me where the meat food group is in your soup?”

Danny grinned. “It’s in the broth, of course!”

Steve’s face scrunched up in what Danny would most surely classify as a numbered aneurysm face. Because Danny had all Steve’s faces named and numbered. “Oh, of course.” The disgusted look disappeared just as quickly as it came, however, as Steve glanced behind Danny, eyes tracking someone entering the bar.

Danny, who was fixated on his soup, answered. “They use beef in their broth, Steven.” He looked up, pointing his spoon at Steve, who was now staring back at Danny. “Ergo, this soup provides me the four basic food groups. Unlike your rabbit food there.” Danny pointed to Steve’s salad.

Steve flicked his eyes back towards the person settling at the bar before looking back at Danny. “My rabbit food is much healthier than that cup o’ crap.” However, Steve’s insult lacked its usual rancor.

“Maybe,” Danny answered, ready to let loose on another rant, but realized he really didn’t have his partner’s attention anymore.

Steve’s eyes kept glancing behind him, so Danny finally turned around, scanning the bar area. He was shocked to find Catherine Rollins, yes, that Catherine Rollins, former Steve-McGarrett’s-Lieutenant-with-Benefits-Catherine-Rollins sitting at the bar alone, nursing a drink.

Danny turned back around to Steve and saw that his dinner companion has completely lost interest in their conversation, so fixated on Catherine.

Danny tried not to let his hurt feelings show as he said, “You should go say ‘hello’.”

“Huh?” Steve replied dumbly, shaking himself from staring at Catherine and looking back at Danny with an embarrassed flush.

“I said, ‘you should go say ‘hello’.’”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Steve asked a bit dubious.

“Why would I mind? She’s your friend, right?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Go on,” Danny encouraged. “I know you want to.” Danny shooed him with a wave of his hands and a smile on his lips; though the smile came far short of reaching his eyes.

Steve grinned at Danny and all but jumped up and sprinted across the room to the bar.

Danny sighed and took a rather large drink of his wine. Suddenly, he wasn’t as hungry as he had been.

* * * * *

Five minutes later and Steve was still at the bar with Catherine. Danny sat at the table, staring at his now congealed soup in front of him. He’d turned around to see Steve and Catherine sitting side by side, Steve’s hand resting lightly on Catherine’s exposed knee.

She was wearing a very sexy, short little black dress. Definitely out dressed to impress. And she had impressed one Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett in a heartbeat!

They both had a drink in front of them, talking animatedly. Well, as animatedly as Steve ever got, which, to Danny’s surprise, was as animated as he’d ever seen Steve before.

The waiter had removed his soup and Steve’s half eaten salad. And the longer Danny sat alone, the more he wondered why he did this to himself.

He glanced at his watch and saw that it was now eleven minutes since Steve had gone to join Catherine. That was one hell of a long ‘hello’! Had it been Danny who’d seen a friend… Well, first off he probably wouldn’t have gone over in the first place, since he was on a fucking date! And secondly, if he had gone over, it would have been for either a quick hello or maybe even to invite them over if they were by themselves. But he would never, NEVER have been gone for five, and definitely not eleven fucking minutes!

And, Danny hated to admit this to himself; he saw the look in Steve’s eyes when he saw Catherine. That spark whenever he saw or even thought of Catherine was blazing bright in those navy blues. Danny had absolutely no right to even think this could work out between them. What the fuck had he been thinking?!

Sure he and Steve had been flirting practically since day one, but with everything that had happened with Rachel… twice! And then with Steve almost throwing Danny at Gabby (and then Gabby taking a job on the mainland four months later), Danny wasn’t ready to trust his heart with anyone.

And now Steve, who Danny thought was ready for the big commit, was spending his date with Danny at the bar with Catherine.

Danny looked at his watch. Fourteen minutes since Steve had left to go talk to Catherine. Seriously? He turned around and about choked on the sip of wine he was taking when he saw Steve’s hand. It had migrated from Catherine’s knee to her thigh; their heads tilted close together, apparently deep in conversation.

Well, fuck this noise. It was time to go. Danny waved the waiter over.

“If it’s not too late to cancel my order, please cancel it. Otherwise, just box it up and give it to my friend. He’s over at the bar,” Danny pointed to Steve as he stood up. He tossed his napkin on the table and made his way to the exit. He bumped into a tall dark-haired man as he entered the restaurant and muttered an ‘excuse me’ as he slipped out of the door.

He realized once he left that Steve had the keys to the Camaro. He always has the keys to the Camaro. So, Danny began walking down the sidewalk. It was a nice night for a stroll anyway. It was always a nice night was a stroll in Honolulu, Danny thought darkly.

The fucking weather was always perfect in Hawaii, Danny bitched to himself as he kicked at a piece of palm frond in his path. What he wouldn’t give for a good rain storm right about now. It would certainly fit his mood. And being drenched while walking the streets in the middle of the night would bring back all the freaking dreary memories of doing this back in Jersey after the divorce.

He shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and hunched his shoulders, allowing the gloom of his memories wash over him and over-lay with the misery of the current events of the evening.

He was vaguely aware of denizens in his path giving him a wide berth. Good, he spat internally at them all menacingly. Take your fucking surf boards and ‘brahs’ and ‘alohas’ and go fuck yourselves!

I hate this damned island.

* * * * *

Steve walked up to Catherine and took the stool next to her. “This seat taken?” He grinned.

“As a matter of fact it is,” she replied, smiling back.

“Seriously?” Steve asked, aborting the kiss he was about to place on her cheek.

Catherine grinned and leaned over, brushing her lips across Steve’s. “It will be in,” she glanced at her watch, “about fifteen minutes.”

“And who is the lucky man?” Steve asked.

“No one you know,” she answered, thanking the bartender as he set another drink down on the bar in front of her. She crinkled her forehead. “What are you doing here?”

Steve gestured to the table he’d just come from. “I’m here with Danny.”

Catherine’s face softened and she smiled up at Steve. “So you finally did it, huh?”

Steve ducked his head. “Yeah.”

“It’s about time.”

Steve’s head snapped up and he stared at her.

“Oh please. Every time we got together it was ‘Danny’ this and ‘Danny’ that. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how you felt about him. I’m actually shocked it took you this long.”

Steve gave her a shy smile. “Yeah, well, wasn’t for a lack of trying.”

“On his part or yours?”

“Both.”

Catherine chuckled. “Well, you I can see. Him? Not so much.”

Steve’s face sobered. “You’d be surprised.”

Catherine’s eyebrow arched in a do-tell manner.

Steve got the bartender’s attention and ordered a whiskey and waited for it to arrive before he started his story. Catherine looked at the drink quizzically, but remained silent.

“Danny may wear his heart on his sleeve, but he’s also been burned a few times. Makes him a bit leery.”

“I know he’s divorced, right?” Catherine asked.

“Yeah,” Steve confirmed. “His ex… not my favorite person, that’s for sure. She played him like a pro not too long ago. Baby involved and everything. Made him think they had a chance at the white picket fence again before dumping him for a second time. Left him a mess.”

“Wow!” Catherine exclaimed. “Real charmer, huh?”

“Don’t get me started on that woman. Anyway, I tried to get him back on the horse so to speak, but that didn’t end so well either.”

Catherine slugged him in the arm. “Why’d you do that, idiot?! Especially if you feel about him the way you do.”

Steve rubbed his arm. “I just wanted him to be happy. Even if it wasn’t with me.”

“But…?” Catherine encouraged him to continue.

“But… I realized that neither one of us was happy, so why don’t we try to be happy together? We’re already best friends. What’s one more step? Besides, we’re practically there already.”

Catherine grinned. “See? Told you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I should have listened to you the first time.”

“Yes, you should have,” Catherine agreed, lifting her drink and holding it out. Steve also lifted his and they toasted before tossing back their respective drinks.

“So when can I expect an invitation to the wedding?” Catherine asked innocently.

Steve choked on his drink, causing it to burn its way down his chest.

Coughing, he gagged, “W-wha--?!”

She grinning wickedly and ordered them another.

It took Steve another minute to get himself under control and he glared at her while tears formed at the corner of his eyes. “I hate you.”

“Naw,” she purred, picking up her drink and pushing his toward him. “You really don’t.”

Clearing his throat of the burn, he picked up his glass, clinking it with hers. “To you and Danny,” Catherine said seriously. “I’m glad you finally found your happiness.”

Steve grinned, eyes sparkling like a love-sick fool. “Thanks, Cat.”

They both tossed back their drink.

“What’s this?” A new male voice stated jovially from behind Catherine. “Started without me? And picking up handsome strangers to boot?”

Catherine turned around and slipped her hand around the tall, black-haired man who stood behind her stool.

“Rob!” Rob leaned down as Catherine leaned up and the two kissed briefly on the lips. “Rob, I’d like you to meet Steve. Steve, this is Rob, my fiancé.”

Steve stretched out his hand. “Rob, pleasure to meet you.” Then Steve did a double take at Catherine’s words. “Fiancé? What? When? Ho--?”

Catherine stretched out her left hand and flashed her ring finger at him, showing off a rather large diamond ring.

“How the hell did I not see that?” Steve wondered out loud, perplexed.

Catherine grinned. “Maybe because you were too busy talking about Danny?”

Steve flushed.

“As usual,” she added.

Steve glared.

“Steve,” Rob interrupted his death-stare with a pleasant smile. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”

Catherine answered for her embarrassed friend. “Steve heads the Five-0 Task Force with his partner over th—“ She pointed in the direction of Steve and Danny’s table and found that it was now empty. “Steve, Danny’s gone.”

Steve’s brows furrowed and quickly slid off his stool, turning around. Swallowing hard, he said, “Maybe he went to the restroom.” He was about to return to his table when the waiter who had been serving him and Danny past by their group.

“Excuse me,” Steve said, stopping the waiter. “Could you tell me where my partner went?” Steve pointed to his table.

The waiter looked around the room in confusion before recognizing the empty table. “Ah, yes. I’m afraid you dinner companion left about five minutes ago. He asked me to cancel his dinner order and he left.”

“Left?” Steve half whispered, bafflement coloring his voice. “I don’t understand.”

“I think I might,” Catherine offered, resting a gentle hand on Steve’s arm as he sagged back on the stool.

Steve looked up into Catherine’s concerned face, bewilderment molding his features. “I don’t…”

“You were over here for quite a long time, Steve.”

Steve shrugged his shoulders, clearly not understand what she was trying to say.

“You left your date to come over to talk to your ex-girlfriend…?” Catherine widened her eyes and tilted her head, encouraging Steve to understand what she was trying to say.

At the mention of ‘ex-girlfriend’, Rob shifted nervously behind Catherine and she shook her head, silently telling him she would explain later.

When Steve still didn’t get it, Catherine continued, “…you left your date… to come over to talk to your ex, Steve. And you weren’t here for a quick ‘hello’. You’d been here for some time.”

“Oh god,” Steve moaned, dropping his head to his chest, covering his face with his hands.

Suddenly, he snapped his head up and stared at Catherine. “I gotta go.” He stood up so quickly, the stool toppled over, landing against the bar behind him. He reached out and grabbed Rob’s hand, pumping it vigorously several times. “It was nice to meet you. Congratulations.” He kissed Catherine’s cheek. “I’ll call you later.” He took off for the door.

On his way, he ran into the waiter. Grabbing the poor man by both biceps, he released one arm to take out his wallet. Taking a couple bills from a hidden compartment that Danny hadn’t seen when he frisked him earlier, he shoved them at the stunned man. “Sorry for the inconvenience. Dinner is on me.” He pressed the bills into the waiter’s chest and bolted for the door.

He had to find Danny.

* * * * *

Danny had been walking along the relatively deserted streets, thinking about what had just occurred. It had been a rather surreal evening to say the least. Never would he have dreamed that they would run into Steve’s ex(?) girlfriend at the exact same restaurant that Steve had taken them to.

Kind of a coincidence, don’t you think? Danny’s subconscious taunted him ominously. Or not, he thought back at himself, shoving his hand deeper into his pants pockets, head bowed, not really paying attention to where he was going.

Maybe it was a sign, he decided. Danny wasn’t one for casual relationships. Steve knew that from the get-go. Danny committed one hundred percent and that was that. The end of his marriage certainly hadn’t been his idea. He wasn’t the one who had cheated and then begged for a divorce. That had all been on Rachel.

That whole mess screwed him up for a long, long time. Lasted all the way to Hawaii. And then Rachel had to fuck with his head again; come running to him with a song and dance that things with Stan weren’t going as well as expected. And because Danny was so freaking lonely and still a little bit in love with her, he took her back, did something that he swore up and down he would never do… be “the other man” and sleep with a married woman. Even if that married woman was his ex-wife, she was still a married woman, damnit.

It killed him to look back on that time and realize what a douchebag he’d been. He’d become the same thing that broke him and Rachel up… the other man.

And then she came to him saying she was pregnant. The one other thing she knew without a doubt she could say to keep him. She knew how Danny felt about kids. Gracie was his life. Adding another child to the mix would have been the icing on the family cake. But before he could revel in the joy of a second child in his life, Rachel turned around and ripped the rug out from under him, informing him that, “Oh, I’m sorry, Daniel, but I was wrong. The dates were off. The baby is actually Stanley’s. I’m coming back to Hawaii and I’m going to try to work things out with my husband. I don’t need you anymore. So sorry. Thanks anyway. My bad.”

If the divorce had left Danny a shell of his former self, the whole baby thing practically gutted the hell out of him. If not for throwing himself into clearing Steve’s name of the murder of the Governor, Danny didn’t know what he would have done with himself.

It was during that time, however, that he had realized that this ‘thing’ between he and Steve was actually a ‘thing’ in the first place. Sure, he wasn’t going to just up and leave Steve and the rest of Five-0 to follow Rachel and Gracie back to Jersey just on Rachel’s snap of her fingers. They were his friends. Steve was his friend. But it was during this time that Danny had realized that Steve was a little bit more than just a friend, if truth be told.

Then Rachel called to inform him the baby wasn’t his. While it broke his heart, it also gave him a small sense of relief. Rachel was coming back with Grace which meant that Danny would get to stay in Hawaii, which meant that Danny would get to stay with Five-0 (Steve) providing he could get Five-0 back together.

But having more than friendship-feelings for your best friend and giving your heart to the crazy bastard were two different things.

While Danny was fighting his own issues with whether or not to trust someone with his heart again, he knew his partner was dealing with his own issues. Namely, his on again, off again relationship with his sexy lady-with-benefits.

Steve had told him not long after he was cleared of the charges of the Governor’s murder that his relationship with Catherine was permanently off; a not-so-subtle hint that Steve was now in pursuit of someone else, specifically his partner.

However, after running into her a few times since then, Danny was beginning to wonder if the relationship was really as ‘off again’ as Steve said it was (or actually wanted it to be).

And if tonight wasn’t a big red flag that it either wasn’t off again or Steve still had feeling for his Lieutenant, Danny didn’t know what was. Maybe the universe was conspiring against him. Maybe the fates felt he wasn’t destined to be happy. Maybe the stars weren’t aligned correctly. Whatever the case, perhaps it was best, Danny thought, to just lock his heart up in the deepest, darkest part of his soul and just forget about it. He didn’t need to be happy. He’d tried it once with Rachel the first time and look where it got him. He’d tried it again with Rachel the second time and it kicked him in the balls. He’d ventured to attempt it again with Gabby, and couldn’t even get out of the starting gate.

He should be happy that Steve was happy and just let it go. That was what was important anyway, right? If your friends were happy?

Chin was happy. It took him awhile, but he finally got his ‘happily ever after’. And if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Chin Ho Kelly. The man had gone through hell and back and for what? He protected an uncle and lost his entire family, his career and his fiancée. But now he’s got his family back, he has a better career with Five-0 than he’d had at HPD, and his fiancée is now his wife.

And Kono. While she wasn’t married or even in a committed relationship, she was still happily dating; happily being a young cop with a bright future ahead of her.

Then there was Steve… Steve looked so fucking happy with Catherine tonight.

Danny blinked away a little moisture that had gathered at the corner of his eyes and momentarily blinded him. He sighed deeply and swallowed hard, closing his eyes for a few steps to gather his composure. When he opened them again, he ran right into Steve, almost bouncing off his chest. He was stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, standing in front of Danny, a forlorn expression on his face.

“Hey,” Steve said softly, reaching out to steady him.

Steve immediately released his partner as Danny took a step back, looking up at him. “Hey.”

They both continued to stare at each other, neither sure what to say.

Finally, “Look, Danny…” Steve started.

“Steve, I…” Danny began at the same time.

Danny removed a hand from his pocket and twisted his wrist around in a go-ahead gesture. “You first.”

Steve sighed. He was all set to apologize, but his curiosity got the better of him and he had to ask. “Danny, why’d you leave?”

It was Danny’s turn to sigh. He looked away, eyes flickering over the ocean in the distance. Standing up straighter, looking as though he’d gathered his resolve from the darkness, Danny turned back to Steve. “It wasn’t really a date anymore, was it, Steve? No point in sticking around.”

“Danny, I just went over there to say hello.”

Danny gave Steve a sad smile. “A hello takes two seconds, babe, not fifteen minutes.” Steve had the grace to look ashamed. “If you hurry, I’m sure you can get back to her.”

Steve’s head snapped up. “Get ba—? I don’t want to get back to her. I’m with you, Danny.”

“It’s okay, Steve. I won’t be offended or anything. I’m sure you can salvage something out of this evening.”

“You want to go back to my place, then?” Steve asked, being purposely obtuse.

“I was talking about Catherine,” Danny said unhappily, not taking the bait.

Steve reached out a hand, taking Danny’s wrist that was just peeking out above the pocket his hand was shoved in. “Danny, please. Please, let’s go home. I want to explain.”

“Steve…” Danny sighed exasperatedly.

“Please,” Steve begged.

Danny deflated. He hated that he was unable to say no to Steve. Pissed him off to no end. Even after everything, he was still unable to say no. Would always be unable to say no to the idiot. Steve would probably ask him to be best man at his and Catherine’s fucking wedding and Danny would say yes, because that’s the kind of idiot Danny is when it comes to Steve.

“Fine,” Danny replied gloomily and followed him to the Camaro.

* * * * *

The drive back to Steve’s house was quiet and tense. Steve hands gripped the steering wheel just as tightly as earlier in the evening when they had been driving to dinner. Though before, it was the nerves of a first date that had Steve throttling the wheel in a death grip. Now it was the thought that everything was going to end before it had a chance to begin.

Steve glanced over at his partner. Danny was staring out of the passenger’s window, head leaning back against the leather of the seat, cheek pressed against the seatbelt. Steve wanted nothing more to reach out to his friend but was afraid of being rejected after everything that had happened tonight.

It was the longest drive to his house in his life.

When they finally arrived, Steve parked in the driveway, turning off the engine. Neither man moved. Slowly, Danny sat up and faced front. He closed his eyes for a brief moment before unlatching his seatbelt and opening his door. “C’mon,” he muttered under his breath. “May as well get this over with.”

Steve’s heart sank.

He got out after Danny and followed him into the house.

They both found themselves standing in the middle of the living room, staring at each other.

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Steve asked, “You want something to drink?”

Danny shook his head with a resigned smile.

Steve stalked to his father’s old office and rummaged around in the cabinet. “Well, I need one.”

Danny trailed slowly behind him. He leaned a hip against the desk. “A little Dutch courage?” It was said without rancor, but Steve didn’t hear it that way.

Steve had the drink half way to his lips and suddenly stopped, bringing the glass back down to the table. “No, I…” Steve ran both hands through his hair as he leaned heavily against the desk next to Danny.

When their shoulders brushed, Danny stood up and walked across the room, as though sitting next to his partner was now uncomfortable.

“Danny?”

Danny sighed. “Look Steve. I get if you’re not ready for this.” Danny waved his hands in the air between the two of them. “God knows I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for.”

Steve’s mouth dropped open in shock. “But I am! I’m the one who asked you out tonight, remember?”

Danny gave him an unhappy smile. “Yes, I do remember. I remember very well, thank you. And maybe it wasn’t such a good idea, is all I’m sayin’. Maybe you’re not as ready as you think you are.”

“But I am!” Steve repeated dumbly.

“Really, Steven? Really?” Danny asked, a little irritated, arching an eyebrow and running a hand through his own hair. “’Cause what I saw tonight doesn’t seem like you’re all that ready in the least.”

Steve was about to answer when Danny started patrolling the room. “And I get that, Steve, I do.” Danny stopped to look directly at Steve before continuing. “Trust me, I do.” He began pacing again. “But the thing is, what you did tonight really, really sucked.”

Steve’s “I know,” was lost as Danny continued pacing.

“Going to say hello to your friend or your ex or your current or your friends-with-benefits or whatever the hell she is to you is one thing, but to spend the entire night with her when you are supposed to be out on a date is quite another.”

“I know,” Steve said again, just as quietly as before, so Danny didn’t hear it.

Danny continued. “So, I figured there was no reason to stick around. That’s why I left.” Danny’s pacing had him cutting a swath in the floor in front of Steve, arms slicing the air as he tried to put into words his feelings. “And as I walked the streets like some lovelorn sad-sack, I came to the conclusion that maybe all this happened for a reason. And that reason,” Danny announced as he sagged against the cabinet on the far side of the room, “is that maybe I’m just not supposed to be happy.”

“I kn-- What?!” Steve was across the room in an instant. “No! What the hell are you talking about?”

Danny refused to look at Steve as he maneuvered around the taller body, wandering over to the desk where the untouched drink sat. He picked it up and downed it in one gulp. After a few moments, he turned around to find Steve once again in his personal space. He took a few steps back.

“C’mon, Steve. You know my track record.” Danny sat against the desk and looked up at his partner. “Rachel fucked me over not once but twice. You practically shoved me at Gabby and, what, five months later she’s gone with barely a ‘see ya later’.” Danny pointed a menacing finger at Steve. “See that’s why I didn’t want to introduce her to Gracie, you bastard!” Danny moved around and slumped into the chair. “Then you and this,” Danny waved his hand around, encompassing the room. “What the fuck is the point?” Danny reached for the bottle of liquor and helped himself to another drink, pounding it down just as fast as he could pour it.

Steve became paler and paler the longer Danny spoke. He had no clue Danny felt this way. Realizing he was the contributing cause of his partner’s pain cut Steve to the deepest part of his being. He wished so much that he could take tonight back to do it over again. He would have ignored Catherine up at the bar or, at the very least, waved at her from his seat at his and Danny’s table. He would have never had gone to talk to her. It doesn’t matter that he spent the entire time talking about Danny. Danny didn’t know that.

Danny needed to know that.

Just as Danny was about to pour himself a fourth drink, Steve removed the bottle from his fingers.

“Hey!” Danny protested.

The glass was still half full and Steve took the opportunity to empty it on Danny’s behalf.

“HEY!” Danny protested louder.

Steve sat on the edge of the desk, bracketing Danny between his legs. He leaned forward and planted his hands on the arms of the chair, effectively trapping his partner where he sat.

“First of all,” Steve began. “You deserve to be happy.”

Danny rolled his eyes and sagged back in the chair, clearly not believing Steve’s words.

“Secondly,” Steve said as he sat back, removing his hands from the chair but keeping Danny trapped by his legs. "I'm sorry.”

Danny raised his eyebrows, but remained silent.

“You’re absolutely right. What I did tonight sucked and I’m sorry.” Danny dropped his eyes, looking everywhere but at his partner as Steve continued. “But if it’s any consolation, we spent the entire time talking about you.”

Danny looked up with incredulous eyes.

“We did, I swear,” Steve promised. “There’s something you have to understand. I’ve known Catherine a very long time.”

Danny rolled his eyes.

“As friends first, Daniel,” Steve admonished. He continued. “She’s my best friend, after you. I tell her everything. So when I saw her, I told her I was there with you. She told me that it was about time.”

Danny’s head snapped up at that. Steve smiled at his shocked expression.

“She’d been trying to get me to ‘shit or get off the pot’, her words, not mine, when it came to you for forever. So when she realized I was there with you, she had a lot to say.” Steve reached out and tentatively took one of Danny’s hands and was pleased when he allowed the touch. “Time literally got away from me, Danny, I promise. I didn’t realize until her fiancé joined us that I’d been gone so long.”

“Her fiancé?” Danny asked sheepishly.

Steve smiled. “Yeah, she’s engaged.”

“Oh.”

“Danny, I promise you… I know it took me awhile to ask you, but… I promise you, I’m ready.”

Danny just stared down at their joined hands.

Steve squeezed his hand gently and leaned down to whisper in his ear. “You deserve to be happy, Danny.”

He looked up at Steve, uncertainty evident in his blue eyes. “But…”

Steve shook his head and looked at him directly. With no doubt in his voice, he stated, “I can make you happy, Danny. I’m ready.”

Danny didn’t say anything for a long, long time. He just stared at Steve, gauging his sincerity. Finally, when Steve started to fidget, Danny replied.

“Okay.”

“Really?” Steve wasn’t sure he heard right. And he really needed to be sure.

Danny smiled up at Steve and nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Steve grinned and used the hand he was holding to pull Danny up. Gently bracketing Danny’s face in his hands, Steve slowly leaned down and softly kissed him. After a few moments, he pulled back enough so they were no longer kissing, but their lips were still touching. “I swear, Danny, I will make you happy.”

“You already are,” Danny assured him before pressing back and deepening the kiss.

Finis
March 27, 2012