Title – My Hawaiian Wedding…Jersey Style
Sequel To – McGarretts Say It Better (Or Awkward Mother-Son-Danny Conversations)
Author – Moonbeam
Summary – It's three weeks out from the wedding of the everyone in Five-0 has been waiting for. Danny's family is on their way. Doris is meeting Danny's mum and by the end of this they'll be married. Come along for the ride.
Spoilers – End of season 3, the whole story takes place between s03e22 and s03e23.
Rating – Mature (M) because they keep deciding to snuggle when I'm not looking.
Disclaimer – I don't own anything.
Author's Notes – Through chance and, I like to think some encouragement from me, my friend has been watching H50 for the first time and I've been enjoying experiencing it with her. It's got my butt in gear to write this. It'll be another slow writing process but don't give up on me I always come back to this series. It's my favourite.

My Hawaiian Wedding…Jersey Style
by Moonbeam

/ Nosy \\\

Danny walked out of the psych's office and spotted Steve reclining back against the hood of his truck trying very hard to look nonchalant. He knew he should be annoyed – he had very specifically told Steve to stay at Five-0 until he came back after the session. He wasn't overly surprised that the other man had ignored him though. Steve didn't need to know that yet however.

"Hello, Steven." Danny said.

Steve immediately straightened, almost snapping to attention. "You're done already?"

Danny made a face at him. "You are not supposed to be here. I said I'd come back to headquarters when I was done."

Steve dropped his head awkwardly.

"Steven?"

Steve shrugged.

"Steven?"

"We haven't got a case," Steve said with a shrug, not looking at Danny. The blond had an inkling of what had happened. "…so we could just go straight home instead." Danny knew he was right – Steve must have annoyed Kono and Chin so badly that they'd told him to leave them alone. Steve would have, of course, interpreted that as – go and spy on Danny. "Maybe have a swim, cook something for dinner."

"You are such a bad liar and a beautiful dork."

Steve frowned at him, eyes flicking back up to Danny's face.

"They kicked you out of headquarters, didn't they?"

Steve shrugged defensively.

"And you came down here because you're worried about me, so badly that Chin and Kono couldn't stand you anymore."

Steve folded his arms across his chest.

"Come on, I'll go swimming with you and tell you all about it."

Steve immediately smiled at him.

"I'll meet you at home." Danny offered.

Steve's face fell at Danny's words.

Danny threw his hands up into the air. "I'm not leaving my car here tonight just because you're pouting," Danny told him, stepping towards his car.

Steve huffed. "I don't know why you even brought it to work."

"Because I had to come to this appointment, Steve."

"I could have driven you."

"But I wanted to come alone, on my own, to this rather personal and very intense therapy session."

"I don't know why."

"We're not actually attached to one another," Danny said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "I can come to an appointment on my own."

"For now," Steve said looking positively smug with himself. "Three weeks."

"Until we're married."

"Same thing."

Danny frowned at Steve. "Not quite."

Steve looked away suspiciously. "I'll meet you at home. Want me to grab some steaks?"

"Nah, I will," Danny said and Steve nodded. He decided not to ask questions about the look – sometimes it was easier to just ignore it until he had to deal with it.

Steve darted forward for a sneak-attack kiss and then jumped into his truck. Danny watched him leave and had to smile. Steve was exactly what he had needed after that session with the psych. He slid into his car and slumped back into the seat. Danny had never found this part easy – talking like he had had to in the office upstairs. And he really hated admitting that he'd fucked up so badly that he needed help like this.

He turned his phone back on and felt it vibrate in his pocket a few too many times. He had to pull himself together to pull it out of his pocket.

Steve was bugging the crap out of us. Sorry brah. Kono.

Danny smiled and he couldn't even be mad at her for kicking Steve out and towards him. He probably would have done something similar if he'd had to deal with Steve – the big old, insane marshmallow. He took a deep breath and started the car, Steve would send out HPD if he was late. He stopped and bought them steak and vegetables for grilling on the barbecue before he drove the long way home, windows down in the Camaro as he tried not to think about the session he'd just had.

When he turned into their driveway his phone beeped and he knew it was Steve wondering where he was. He walked up to the door and saw Steve pacing in the living room.

"Babe," Danny said quietly, as he reached for the door handle. Steve turned and yanked the door open. "Steve?"

"Where were you?"

Danny held up the bag in his hand, one of those reusable ones Grace had insisted he buy, and smiled. "Steak and vegetables."

"And after that?"

"I drove home the long way."

"Why?"

"It's been a long day."

"Yes, I know and you were supposed to come back here and talk about it with me."

"And here I am," Danny said frowning, "let's change and go for a swim."

Steve crossed his arms over his chest.

"Babe, I just needed some time."

Steve nodded and turned around to stalk towards the stairs. Danny watched the tense line of his shoulders for a few minutes and then he dumped the food in the fridge and followed.

"Steve," Danny started when he walked into the bedroom, "you're overreacting."

Steve nodded and yanked on his board shorts.

"Steve."

"I know," Steve said quietly. "I know, okay? Let's just go for a swim."

"What's wrong?"

Steve threw Danny's shorts at him.

"There is something wrong with you; you do understand that, don't you? It's not normal that you would feel more secure swimming in the ocean than talking to me in our bedroom."

"I like the water."

"You like the water? You like the water?"

"Yeah."

Danny sighed and threw his clothes in the basket in the corner. "Okay, let's go and swim so you can tell me what the hell is wrong with you."

"There is nothing wrong with me."

Danny threw his arms out wide and looked around the bedroom. "Then what is this?"

"This is us going for a swim."

Danny wanted to scream. He wanted to walk over and shake Steve until the other man answered a question straightforwardly.

Steve stared at Danny until the other man pulled on his swimming shorts and turned to walk out of the room. Danny felt Steve close at his back as he walked down the stairs and out through the laundry. Danny watched Steve as the brunette overtook him and trotted down towards the water. Danny kept up with him and refrained from complaining about the pace Steve made with his unreasonably long legs. He wondered, as the first splashes of cold, salty water hit his calves, why he couldn't have just gone back to Five-0, collected Steve like he planned, and then gone upstairs and put those stupid, long legs to better use for distraction. He followed Steve farther out to sea and shook his head as the other man's shoulders relaxed as the water rose higher.

"Steven," Danny said, as the water hit his pectorals. "I am not going any further."

Steve turned around and nodded. "Okay."

Danny expected him to say more but the other man just ducked under the water and swam around in a circle before he popped back up.

"I don't appreciate the fact you're lying to me," Steve said.

Danny gaped at him. "I'm not lying to you, what am I lying to you about? I have no secrets – we live together, we work together, we're getting married in three weeks, and you won't even let me drive my own car."

"Exactly."

"I do not understand a word you are saying to me right now, babe. I am not lying. What secrets could I possibly have?"

Steve made a face.

"Okay, is this about the therapy? Because therapy traditionally is a solitary activity. Unless it's couples therapy and that's a completely different conversation but I'm happy to go to couples therapy if you'd like."

"Why didn't you tell me about the meetings you've been having with Rachel?"

Danny stared at Steve dumbfounded. "You know about them."

"Yes, I know about them! Why did you tell me about them?"

"I did tell you about them."

"No I didn't. Until I came home tonight and answered the phone, I knew nothing about them. She seemed very surprised that I didn't know you'd been over there three times this week."

"Babe, you knew about this. We're taking Grace on our honeymoon. I've been talking to her about that. You knew."

"I did not," Steve repeated.

"Steven, are we taking my daughter to New Zealand in just under four weeks?"

"Yes."

"Do I share custody with my ex-wife who is still very annoyed that she had to stay in Hawaii instead of going to Las Vegas?"

"Yes."

"And even more displeased that we are now suing her for a fifty-fifty custody agreement?"

"Yes."

"And is she making me jump through hoops to keep on her good side so that she doesn't change her mind?"

"She can't!" Steve said emphatically, stalking back towards Danny.

"No, it would reflect very badly on her when we come to the custody hearing but I'm just doing what I have to do. I told you I was going over there on Monday after work. She wants a full itinerary which is completely fair and she's had a heap of questions so I went there after I picked Gracie up from school on Wednesday. Which…now that I think about it, I didn't tell you about."

"She said she'd seen you every night this week."

"Not quite."

"And you never told me about these meetings."

Danny slapped himself on the forehead and sprayed them both with water. "I thought I did."

Steve deflated in front of him.

Danny froze and looked around him and then pulled Steve into a kiss.

"What?" Steve asked.

"I love you, and I find it very sweet that you dragged me into the ocean to accuse me of cheating on you."

Steve froze. "I didn't think you were cheating on me."

"Then what was all that about?"

"You lying to me."

Danny shook his head and wished he was sitting down. "You didn't think I was cheating on you?"

"You wouldn't do that."

"That was a hell of a reaction for me lying to you then."

"I don't want you to start lying and pulling away from me when we're about to get married."

Danny left like a metaphorical lightbulb was going off over his head. He smiled ruefully. "Babe, do you want to hear what happened at the therapy session?"

"Yes."

"The shrink and I talked about what happened on that case for most of the session."

"What did she say?"

"Can we go up and sit down instead? I do understand that you feel that the sea is your safe place but this is weird for me."

"We haven't even swum."

Danny smiled. "After."

"Okay," Steve said, grabbing Danny's hand and walking them both out of the water.

Danny wrapped himself in a towel and sat facing Steve. "She asked me why I'd done what I did. I found the whole thing uncomfortable but it was good to talk about it with a stranger."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't know me and she isn't worried about my feelings or justification. She's just there to help."

"I'm here to help."

Danny smiled at Steve warmly. "I know, babe, but you're also trying to make me feel better."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"We are not having this argument again. We talked a bit about my previous issues with anger management and what I had done to help deal with it in the past and why it's not working for me now. And that was about it. I'm going back next week."

"Why?"

"To work through this whole thing and work out how to deal with my anger so I never assault another person like that. It's been getting worse and it's not just that; it's the negativity as well. I don't want to go into our marriage with all that baggage so I'm going to follow through with this until I am feeling better. For me, but also for you and Gracie."

"Danny…"

"I think this will be good for me. I don't want Gracie to think that anger and negativity are okay, that they are an acceptable way of living your life. I just want to be better for her and for you. But I never want to hate myself like I did after that case again."

Steve made a face at him that Danny couldn't classify and then he leaned forward and kissed Danny. "We should go swimming."

"I think we need to talk more about this Rachel thing."

"No. You thought you told me, it's all fine."

Danny threw his hands up in the air. "I'm going to see her tomorrow to discuss the schedule for the wedding. Do you want to come?"

"No."

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're a terrible liar."

"What time?" Steve asked, standing up.

"Six."

"I'll drive."

"Of course you will, Neanderthal."

Steve grabbed Danny's wrist and started walking them towards the water. He stopped when the water was lapping their feet. "You looked upset when you came out of the psych's office."

"It's draining and depressing and so fucking hard, Steve. It is upsetting."

"Next time I'm driving you and then you can relax."

"No, next time I'll drive myself."

Steve shook his head. "Chin isn't going to let me stay in the office next time."

Danny laughed and pulled Steve into the water.

/

I've been sitting on this chapter for a little while because I didn't want to start the story on this note but my muse is ADAMANT that this was the right way to start. So here we go…