Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii 5-0 or any of the characters.
It can't be action and adventure all the time for our two favourite 5-0 guys so here's a one shot of life outside the Governor's Task Force!
Dedicated to my nephew Conor who was the inspiration for this particular story. Mahalo Conor x
Danny sat back in the small corner booth, relishing his steak sandwich while watching "his" Devils play NY Rangers in Madison Square Garden. He had left Steve take Grace for a couple of hours shopping. She had claimed that Uncle Steve needed help to buy something nice for his "not my girl-friend" Catherine but Danny knew it was really to pick out his Christmas gift. It was just coming up to 5pm and the ice-hockey game was into over-time with the teams at three goals apiece. Danny's phone started ringing on the table and distractedly he answered it while still staring at the TV screen.
"Mmmm hmmm?" he said absentmindedly into the phone.
"Danno?"
"Gracie, is everything ok?" he replied more alert.
"No," Grace said with a little sob.
"What's wrong? What's happened? Put Steve on!" he all but yelled down the phone, while frantically climbing out of the booth and heading to the bar to pay for his forgotten, half eaten steak sandwich.
"I can't, the doctor is looking at him. It's all my fault," she sniffled.
"Gracie, listen to me. Where are you? Are you still in the Mall? Just tell me where you are and I'll be there straight away." What had that partner of his done now?
"We at the ice rink, you know the one in the really big tent. Uncle Steve never went skating so I thought we'd do that before coming back to you and…and…" she choked back another sob. Danny could hear Steve in the background "Hey kiddo, it's ok. Come here. Hold the phone up for me…thanks."
Danny waited patiently until he heard the deep voice of his friend come on the line.
"Hey buddy, don't worry everything is ok here. Just had a bit of a mishap. Gracie is fine; she's just a little…upset."
"What happened? Grace said a doctor is looking after you," Danny enquired as he walked to the Camaro.
"Yeah, just the first aider here. Eh…just a little…eh collision," Steve huffed.
"Ok man, I'll be right there," Danny said as he climbed into the driver seat of his car.
It was only a short drive to the temporary ice-rink in Ala Moana Park. Danny parked and walked in to find his partner still talking to the first-aider.
"Look, it's fine. I can move them, not problem. See?" Steve was saying as he rotated his wrists trying to prove he was ok.
The first aider looked in despair at the approaching Danny, watching the little girl that was with his patient running into his arms "Em, are you Danno?" he said.
"Yeah, Danny Williams," he replied offering him a hand shake.
"Maybe you could talk some sense into your friend here. He is refusing to go for an x-ray on his wrists. I'm just not sure has he damaged them."
"Talk sense into that goof, are you kidding me," came the reply.
"Ok. But just take it easy ok sir? If you're having any pain or any difficultly with movement please go get them x-rayed."
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye him," Danny said as he look at Steve. "Right, come on off with the skates and we'll get you home."
Steve bent down to start unlacing the skates, doing his best to cover up the winces as he struggled with the knots.
"Here Uncle Steve, let me," Grace said as she knelt down in front of the Commander, batting away his hands.
Steve looked down at his honorary niece and smiled, "Thanks kiddo."
Several minutes later he was ready to go, putting out his hand for the car key, he was greeted with a scoff.
"Not a chance, babe."
"What?" Steve asked innocently.
"Just get in the car," holding the door open for his partner. Grace climbed through into the back but leaned through the seats with a concerned look on her face.
"Uncle Steve, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."
"Gracie, it's not your fault. It was an accident. I'm fine. Look," once again circling his wrists to show all was good. Danny however saw the wince and decided that he was not leaving Steve out of his sight for the rest of the day.
Back at the McGarrett house, Danny went about fixing some food, lamenting his half eaten sandwich left on the table in the sports bar and the fact that he still hadn't found out what the final score of the hockey game was.
"Em Danny, this is my house. I should be the one making supper," Steve said while leaning against the counter top.
"No no no, just go sit down and enjoy the evening, I've been relaxing all day," Danny replied. "Actually buddy, would you send Gracie into me."
"Sure thing. Hey you want a long board?" Steve said as he stood away from the counter and ambled over to the refrigerator.
"Yeah sure, the omelettes will be ready in a few minutes." Taking the beer from Steve he watched once again as his stubborn friend winced as he tried to take the lid of his bottle.
"Give it here," Danny said as he put his hand out for the bottle. "Are you sure you don't need to get an x-ray?"
"I'm fine, Danno, stop fussing. They're just a little tender, that's all."
"So are you going to tell me what happened?"
"I already told you it was nothing, just a little collision. I'm going out to the lanai. Give me a shout if there's anything I can do, ok?"
With that Steve wandered out the door, telling Grace on the way that her father was looking for her.
Grace tidied up her colours on the dining room table and joined her dad in the kitchen.
"Hey monkey, will you lay the table for me please?" her father said smiling at his little girl.
She looked back at him but didn't return his smile as she gathered the place mats, cutlery and glasses to return to the dining room.
"Grace, what's the matter? Why no smiles?" her father asked concerned.
"It's my fault that Uncle Steve is hurt. And I know his hands are sore cos I see him pull a face when he thinks no-one is watching," Grace replied sadly.
"Yeah I know, but he keeps saying he's alright and short of knocking him over the head and dragging him to E.R. there's not much I can do. So will you tell me what happened?" Danny asked gently.
Grace laid down all her supplies and walked over to Danny and he picked her up and placed her on the counter top.
"Well when we were finished our shopping, Uncle Steve said you might be still watching your hockey and he asked did I want to do anything else and I told him about the ice skating in Ala Moana. He said he have never been skating before and I told him we used always go in New Jersey. So he said would we do it so he could practise and that then we could all go next weekend and maybe even invite Uncle Chin and Auntie Kono too." She paused as Danny snickered, typical SuperSEAL, had to make sure he could do it before letting his team mates see him on the ice.
He looked at his daughter then and realised she had her Uncle Steve's aneurism face. Geez she's spending way too much time with McGarrett.
"Sorry. Continue," he said abashed.
"So we were skating around. He was actually very good for his first time, but then these big boys from school started skating past and laughing at me, one bumped into me trying to knock me over. Well Uncle Steve got mad and the next time they tried it again but he changed to the other side and the biggest boy crashed into him instead of me and they both fell down but the boy got up and skated off but Uncle Steve said he had to stop cos he'd hurt his arm when he fell. I helped him over to the seats then and got the doctor for him. He kept saying he was alright. But he wasn't and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have asked to go skating. He had never been and…and…" she couldn't even finish her sentence as wracked with guilt she burst into tears.
"Ah baby, no, it's not your fault. It was an accident. These things happen. Shh, don't cry, Uncle Steve will be really sad if he finds you crying. He was making sure you didn't get hurt. He'll be find, he's SuperSEAL. Now come on, dry your tears and go lay the table. Then call him in for his omelette. Ok?" giving his daughter a quick squeeze, setting her back down on the floor.
"Thanks Danno," Grace replied as she ran to the bathroom, coming back minutes later to gather all the needed items for the table and then headed out to get Steve.
The rest of the evening past without incident. But Danny was concerned that Steve still seemed to be in some pain with his wrists so when he was leaving to bring Grace home he said, "Hey you want to hang out tomorrow, I could bring over some take out and maybe watch a movie or something?"
"Yeah sure, why not," came the response from Steve.
"Ok pal, I'll be along in the afternoon. Take it easy," Danny grinned as he watched his daughter say good bye.
"Bye Uncle Steve, thanks for bringing me shopping. I'm really sorry about what happened at the rink though," Grace said as she hugged Steve.
"Thank you for coming shopping with me. And there is no need to be sorry about the skating, the only person who should be sorry is the guy who ran into me. Good night sweet heart," Steve said as he planted a kiss on Grace's forehead.
Closing and locking the door, Steve walked to his kitchen and filled a baggy with some ice. Sitting down on the couch with the TV remote in his right hand, he relaxed with the ice on his left wrist hoping to easy some of the pain that was getting really tiresome now.
Steve woke several hours later feeling distinctly soggy. The ice had long since melted and poured out the tiny opening in the top of the bag, all over his cargo pants and the couch. Cursing the bag and his own stupidity he went to the kitchen and grabbed a towel to soak up the worst of the water. He was disappointed to realise that there was still some considerable pain in his left wrist but decided to ignore it and head to bed. Hoping that a good night's sleep would help.
Waking several times during the night, basically every time he moved, Steve resigned himself to the fact that he'd need to go for an x-ray in the morning to see what the real damage was.
In the morning, throwing on a sweat pants and an old t-shirt he went down stairs. Planning on eating breakfast and then driving himself to be checked out he was surprised to find Danny already in the kitchen with some coffee on, frying up some French toast and bacon.
"Morning Steven," Danny chirped as the rather rumpled looking ex-SEAL walked into the kitchen. "How's the arm?"
Steve just scowled and walked over to the coffee pot, not even bothering to comment on how or why Danny was in his kitchen this early on a Sunday morning.
"That good, huh?" Danny remarked sarcastically. "Right eat up and we'll go."
"Huh? Go where?" came the confused reply.
"As soon as you've eaten, I'm taking you to the E.R. And I'm not listening to any complaints. Gracie made me promise I'd check in on you this morning and judging by the dark circles under your eyes and the way you're holding your arm, I see she was right to make me stop by," he quipped as he dished up the toast and bacon onto two plates. Grabbing some cutlery and a bottle of maple syrup he had brought along, he headed into the dining room.
Steve followed him in like a sullen teenager, annoyed at being caught out.
"Come on Steve, sit down and eat up like a good boy," Danny said in his best coaxing voice.
He was met with Steve's best bad ass death glare. "Oh save it for a drug lord."
Steve eventually gave in and sat and ate all that was put in front of him.
Once the plate was cleared, Steve looked at his partner, "Hey thanks man, that was great. Sorry about being so surly. I really didn't get much sleep, every time I moved in the bed; I got a shot of pain. I was planning to head to the E.R. this morning anyway."
"Why didn't you call me, Steven? I'd have brought you last night."
"I thought it might be ok after a sleep," Steve responded sheepishly.
"You're a class A moron, you know that, don't you?" Danny said with no malice.
Gathering the plates and carrying them out to the kitchen, Danny called over his shoulder, "You ready to go then, the sooner we get going, the sooner we get back here to watch some TV. And you can just lay down the car keys; there is no way in hell you are driving to the hospital."
"Damn brah, how did you even know I had your keys?" Steve said impressed.
"Daddy Danno super hearing," responded Danny in a sing-song voice. "Right buddy, lets go."
Arriving at E.R. Steve got out of the car at the entrance with Danny calling out his window after him, "I'll be into you in a few minutes once I've parked the car. Now behave yourself and play nice."
Steve cringed as he walked through to the door and heard a teenager and his mom giggle as he walked past. "I'm gonna kill Danno," he muttered to himself as he walked over to the desk to get checked in.
He sat down with a clipboard to fill out all the forms, thinking to himself that they would definitely have all this on record already, but obeyed that stern nurse at the desk all the same.
He was joined shortly by Danny who kept sneaking little convert looks at his partner. The morning past very slowly with Danny making a few coffee runs, even bringing coffee to some others sitting in the waiting room. Having been seen by a triage nurse, Steve was sent back out to sit and wait again until he was called for an x-ray.
"Well, what did she say?"
"Yeah she thinks there's a fracture alright…also she thinks the hospital should be paying the rink a commission for all the extra business they're getting at the moment."
Danny grinned at that.
Not long after Steve had returned to the waiting room he was called down to x-ray and in no time he was back again sitting beside Danny again.
"I hate all this waiting around. They know it's fractured, why can't they put on a cast, already," he grumped.
"Steven, what did I say about behaving yourself? You'll be sorted soon enough; do you want anything from the café? I'm going to wander down there again to stretch my legs."
"And eat some more malasadas," Steve muttered.
"What was that?" Danny asked pleasantly.
"Nothing Daniel. Actually will you see if they have those little bags of chocolate coated macadamias?"
"No problem. Won't be long."
After arriving back with the macadamias, Danny sat back down beside his friend to wait some more.
"Steve McGarrett please." A pretty nurse called.
Steve stood and walked towards her, "Eh your friend can come along too if he wants. There are more comfortable seats outside the treatment room or he can come in if you'd like."
"Hey Danno, you joining us?" Steve called over his shoulder.
Danny followed the nurse and Steve down the corridor.
"I'll just wait out here," said Danny as he spotted the cushioned seats along one wall of the corridor by the treatment room.
"Hey you can stay out here or…eh, come in if you want," Steve said a little self-consciously. He was starting to feel fed up. He was remembering a time long ago when he was about nine and he had fractured a bone in his right wrist and his dad had brought him to the hospital. He had cried to start with but his father had asked him to be a brave little soldier and Steve stopped crying so that his dad would be proud of him. He had a cast put on and was sent home. Father and son then went out to the lanai and Steve had finally fallen asleep cuddled into his father's side.
"Steve? Are you ok?" Danny asked concerned as he saw the sadness on his best friend's face.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Steve said in a rush. "Actually Danny, would you mind coming in with me, keep me company. I'll probably be left here waiting for another hour."
"Sure thing buddy," Danny said as he followed Steve into the room.
It wasn't long before a doctor appeared followed by a nurse who started setting up some supplies for casting the arm.
"Hello Commander, I'm Dr. Phelan and this is Darina, she'll be sorting you out when I've spoken to you." The doctor was an eccentric looking older man with a paisley bow tie and a pair of glasses almost hanging off his nose. The nurse looked like a no nonsense type of woman, with an air of efficiency about her. But she looked up at her patient and gave him a smile and a wink before going back to her duties.
"Hey doctor, this is my work colleague and friend, Danny Williams. Is it ok if he stays too?"
"Hello Danny," shaking hands. "The more, the merrier."
Danny threw Steve a quick smirk and was happy to see it returned.
Attaching two x-rays to the light box on the wall, Dr. Phelan started to explain.
"Now as you can see here, there is quite a substantial fracture of the radius," pointing to the x-ray of Steve's left wrist, "and there is also this hair line fracture of the ulna," pointing to the x-ray of Steve's right wrist.
Sitting up on the treatment table, Steve's mouth dropped open. First turning his shocked face to his doctor, then to the x-rays lit up on the wall and finally to his right hand, Steve remained in complete silence.
The silence was eventually broken, first with a titter, then a snicker, then an all-out guffaw from Danny. His face had turned red trying to keep the laughter in but he couldn't stay quiet any longer.
"I'm sorry pal, but that's just too funny. Only you could end up with two broken wrists after going ice skating!" He left another snort before attempting to calm down.
"That's harsh, brah," Steve said quietly.
But seconds later there was another round of laughter, but this time it came from Dr. Phelan.
"I'm sorry young man, but it is rather funny," was all he could say.
Steve was stunned, here he was sitting waiting to have not one but two casts put on his arms and all his best friend and his doctor can do is laugh at his misfortune. Well at least Darina was showing some professionalism, thought Steve until he actually looked at her and saw her shoulders shaking silently.
"Really?!" he said looking at his friend. "I hope you choke," he then said as he saw that Danny was laughing so much he was having problems taking a breath.
Finally calming down Danny apologised. "Ah man, I'm sorry. It sucks, really it does. But come on it is a tiny bit funny, don't you think?"
By now the doctor and his nurse had managed to compose themselves too.
"Sorry sir," Darina said as she wheeled her trolley over to beside Steve. She quickly set to work putting a cast on both wrists.
"Now, what colour would you like the outside to be?" she questioned as she worked away.
Steve was still feeling moody and said, "I don't care, lady's choice."
"How about navy?" she asked innocently.
This just set Danny off again.
"I swear Daniel Williams, if you don't stop laughing, I will use one of these to stop you," he threaten lift up his right arm.
Danny looked at his friend drawing his hand across his lips as if to zip then, but a second laugh gave Steve a big dopey grin.
"Ah come on babe. Lighten up, it's comical. Look, how about we stop for some shave ice on the way back to your place, how does that sound? You can make believe it's the ice rink that's been shaved up," Danny laughed.
Steve thought for a minute, "You buying?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Well ok then. But I want a large one with passion-fruit, mango and pineapple. And you have to promise to stop laughing ok?" Steve said sounding and feeling like the little boy he was so many years ago.
"Alright big guy, no more laughing," Danny said, then muttering to himself "for the moment."
Half an hour later, the two friends sat at a picnic bench just close to Duke's Lagoon in the Hilton Hawaiian Village, enjoying their shave ice.
Steve was finally getting used to people staring at his two casts. Having also taken a pain killer he was starting to see the funny side of the whole thing.
"Danno?"
"Yes Steven?"
"Thanks for bringing me to the hospital today. Sorry for getting so narky too. I guess it is kinda funny alright. But poor Grace will so upset."
"Ah she'll be fine, but be prepared, she'll probably want to decorate them with glitter," Danny grinned at the thought.
Steve then started to laugh, he laughed so hard, he had tears in his eyes. Danny promptly joined in.
"Come on, time to go," Danny eventually said, finally pulling himself together.
Back at the house, the two friends took their respective bottles, Danny, his long board, Steve, his pineapple juice and then went to occupy the two seats at the edge of the water.
They sat in companionable silence for some time, until Danny looked at his partner, his brother to see he had fallen asleep. Danny returned his gaze back to the Pacific Ocean and settled back to enjoy the stillness of the night.