I don't own anything or anyone save for the mistakes in the story.

Then Comes The Morning

When Steve finally entered the room Grace was already in bed. He thought it strange that she hadn't wished him goodnight, but she was a teenager so she was entitled to her ways. He smiled faintly – at least she felt save enough with him close to leave all the difficulties of the day behind and just rest.

He just started closing the door when she moved a little on the bed, and he stilled. Now that her head was turned towards him he could see her face and the tearstains on her cheek. She was crying? He felt his heart clench as he stared at her face. She cried herself to sleep. But he thought that she was okay, she assured him that she wasn't sad. He started to panic – what should he do? He stepped into the room and in a few strides was beside the bed and that was when he noticed the piece of paper on the floor. He could see something written on it in her neat handwriting, and he also noticed the dried tearstains on the paper as well.

He picked it up and read a few lines. He immediately realized that it was the source of every teardrop. He also knew that he shouldn't read something so personal, especially something belonging to a teenager, but he was already sucked into the heartfelt writing. He wasn't really paying attention to where he sat and didn't even care that the only light in the room came from the hallway because he could read the tiny letters very well. His hands were trembling a little bit as he read on.

I hate this world. I don't want to live in this world. I know that there are people who love me and I love them too, but still it's not the same. I know that I have my ohana, but his ohana is like a broken mirror where you can't find all the pieces and even if you did you couldn't glue them back together.
I want to close my eyes and pretend that I have a wish and I wish that I had my Danno next to me. I love Hawaii, and I know that Danno started to feel at home as well but without him it's not home.
I want to go back to New Jersey and sit at the window in the kitchen. I sat there many times, because from there I could see the gate and I could see Danno arrive. He always looked around the street before coming in, and by the time he was at the door I ran to the entrance as well and I jumped into his arms. He always caught me and swung me around.
I want to listen to him rant about pineapples, even though I know he tried it in secret, he just didn't want Uncle Steve to know.

Here Steve smiled. Yes, that would be typical Danny. Ranting about something just to annoy him. But Steve sobered quickly, and continued reading.

I'm pretty sure that Uncle Steve always lets Danno rant because of their friendship. I always let him rant and protect me too.
I never want to go surfing again. I don't want to eat shave ice. I never want to meet Santa again. I don't want to go running or cheerleading. I don't care about the Aloha Girls either. And I never ever want to see pizza with pineapple on it in my life.
I know that Ms Medlers said that we have to accept that we are going to lose things in our life and we have to learn to live without these but I don't want to.
I don't want to be here like this. I don't like this world. I don't want to live in a world without my Danno.

Steve didn't know if this was the end of what Grace wanted to write or not, but it seemed that this was where Grace gave up the fight with writing and cried herself to sleep.

He sighed and put down the paper. He sat there for a long time, his own heart in turmoil and thought about what he should do. He remembered the name of this Ms Medlers, Danny had complained about her and her stupid assignments before. Well, he couldn't really do anything about the teacher – for now – but he could do something about the girl he considered his niece, the one whose heart was so clearly hurting.

He stood up and walked out of the room, but didn't close the door. He thought it better to leave it ajar in case Grace woke up before morning. He went into the kitchen to get a glass of water – he felt a headache coming. He had to make some calls, so he fished out his phone from his pocket and hit speed dial. It was picked up almost instantly despite the late hour.

"Hey, Chin, I have a favor to ask…"

o*o*o*o*o

Grace woke up late. When she opened her eyes she didn't recognize the place for a moment but then remembered that Uncle Steve brought her to his house from the hospital. As soon as she remembered the reason for her being here instead of her home she burrowed herself into the pillows a bit more. She didn't want to get up. And for the first time in her life she didn't want to go to school. But she knew Uncle Steve wouldn't let her stay in bed so with a grimace she climbed out of the bed and went to the door.

As she stepped into the hallway she could hear voices from downstairs. She stopped for a moment – who was here with Uncle Steve? She started down the stairs. With each step the voices got louder and by the last step she was almost flying and she run into the living room and jumped onto the man sitting on the sofa.

"Danno!"

"Monkey!" Danny got the wind knocked out of him by his whirlwind of a daughter, and he winced as Grace clung to his bruised side but he wouldn't have given up this hug for anything. He felt Grace tremble in his arms and felt her tears on his shirt. He closed his eyes and murmured reassurances to his daughter. "I'm here, Monkey. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

He felt movement and opened his eyes to see Steve moving away from them. He looked at him and mouthed thank you. Steve just smiled his stupid goofy smile and let them alone in the room.

When Steve called him at three in the middle of the night to wake him it took him a few minutes to calm down enough to actually listen to his friend. Then his Neanderthal partner just told him that he was coming to the hospital to spring him. For this he was ready to reply that he didn't want to spend the night there, it was actually Steve that insisted he stay for the night. But then Steve went on telling him of the paper he found in Grace's room, and Danny started ranting about stupid teachers and stupid assignments. Steve let him rant. He then told Danny he would be there as soon as Chin arrived to look after Grace.

And so he had been sitting on Steve's sofa reading Grace's writing assignment and mumbling about bad timing and crazy school assignments. It was not the assignment itself – though what teacher asks the children to describe a world without an item they can't live without, really – it was the timing as well. Any other day he was sure Grace would write about her phone or surfboard or something trivial, but then he got injured when they wanted to take in a suspect for questioning. Steve brought Grace to the hospital to visit him but he convinced Danny to stay the night for observation while he took Grace to his house. Grace was obviously rattled but they thought they reassured her that there was nothing seriously wrong with her father.

So now they were clinging to each other, both a little lost in the world that belonged only to Danno and his Monkey. When Danny felt that Grace stopped crying, he gently lifted her head from his shoulder and wiped at her tears. He looked into her eyes – beautiful brown eyes that held his whole world inside – and asked her, "What do you say Monkey, shall we skip school today? We could stay here, watch SuperSEAL ride on the waves with some of his dolphin friends and order pizza, strictly without pineapple of course…"

o*o*o*o*o

Steve was in the kitchen preparing some light breakfast and smiled as he heard Grace's giggles and Danny's voice going on about something. Yes, this was how the world should be. And he promised himself he would forget everything he read in Grace's paper, it was not something he ever wanted to think about. Although maybe he could hold onto one tiny thought. Danny and pineapple, really? And then he remembered he had a pineapple at home waiting to be eaten. And it's perfect with toast, right?

End