Hey guys! I KNOW ITS BEEN AGES BUT Hope you like this chapter even though I'm terrible at updating stuff.

Thursday:

Danny woke up to an empty bed. Creaking his eyes open, he rubbed them blearily. He hadn't slept all the way through the night like that in longer then he could remember. Steve's side of the bed was vacant, but it was still warm, and he could hear someone moving around in the bathroom. It's gotta be early, squinting he glanced at the clock on Steve's nightstand—6:27 am.

"Danny?" Steve rumbled from the bathroom doorway, "Why're you awake?"

He shrugged, "I dunno, jus' woke up."

Steve was still in just his boxers and the bruising on his torso and face were illuminated by the florescent bathroom light beaming into the room. The sun was shut out by the curtains, but Danny could see it trying to peak through.

"Come on," Steve said, crawling back into bed, "Let's go back to sleep."

Danny nuzzled into Steve when his partner was finally stretched out next to him again, "You mean you're not gonna go for a swim, army boy?"

He felt the grumble in Steve's chest when he said army instead of navy but SuperSEAL decided to ignore it. Chuckling, Steve shrugged.

"I think I'm a little too sore for that today."

"No shit," Danny snorted.

They were quiet for a little while, but they didn't fall back to sleep. Danny could tell Steve had something on his mind, he could feel the wheels in that McGarrett brain churning, clanking around in that thick Neanderthal skull.

"Steve…"

"Hmm?"

Danny glanced up as much as he could with his face still pressed into the taller man's chest, "You're thinking too loud. Spit it out, would yah?"

He watched a small smile grow on the SEAL's lips but his eyes didn't open, "I'm really happy,"

"Is there a but coming or…?"

Steve shook his head, "Nope. I just don't remember the last time I was this happy, that's all."

Smirking against his partner's chest he tangled a leg with Steve's, "I get that. I've been a miserable schmuck for too long,"

Danny chuckled; he had been so unhappy when he was forced to move to Hawaii to maintain a relationship with his daughter and even more unhappy when he joined a police department that ostracized him.

Steve laughed, "Yeah, I remember Chin telling me about the haole assigned to my dad's case, and then I met this firey, grumpy,…short,"

Danny poked Steve gently where he wasn't bruised, which honestly not a lot of places, and the taller man actually giggled.

"This firey, grumpy, short, Jersey cop that tried to kick me out of my own damn house."

And then he met Steve, who agitated him to no fucking end, but physically searched him out because he saw his potential, he saw that Danny was a good cop. That's when everything changed.

"To be fair, it was a crime scene, my crime scene, and you were tampering with evidence. We've been over this."

He could feel Steve roll his eyes before pulling him closer—as if that was even possible considering Danny's face was smushed into Steve's chest—and then kissed the top of Danny's head.

Danny was starting to regain his sleepiness when he felt Steve move around a little and then swear under his breath.

"Steven, be careful, jesus—"

"No Danny, I'm fine, I just looked at the clock. It's 7, Gracie needs to be at school in an hour."

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I told her she didn't have to go to school today after she insisted that she could help me aid you in your recovery."

"Seriously?"

Danny sat up a little and looked at Steve, "Yeah, we just got home from a traumatic experience, she can stay home for a day."

"No," Steve grunted into a sitting position as well, "She wants to aid in my recovery?"

Danny was a little thrown by Steve's confusion, "Steve, when are you going to realize that my kid loves you?"

The bruises on Steve's face brightened and Danny was 90% sure that he was blushing under all those blemishes.

-x-

They didn't end up going back to sleep, so Danny got up and made coffee while Steve wrangled up the energy to walk down the stairs. It was almost eight in the morning when Grace finally woke up and trudged her way into the kitchen.

Steve and Danny were sitting particularly close to one another at the counter as they ate their breakfast and Danny could feel his daughter eyeing them suspiciously.

"Morning Monkey,"

Grace got some orange juice from the fridge and a bowl for cereal before looking at them, "Morning Danno, Uncle Steve did you take your medicine?"

Danny hid his smile behind his coffee mug and watched Steve out of the corner of his eye. His partner smiled at his daughter fondly, "Of course Gracie, just took em'."

"Good job," she mumbled through a spoonful of raisin bran, "You have to take it every four hours and you need to ice your ribs a couple times today."

Steve sat up a little straighter and saluted her, "Yes ma'am."

Danny couldn't hold in his chuckle. The way that Steve was with his daughter was something special to experience. As the father of this little girl and the one who loves Steve it literally couldn't make him happier to see the two of them get along.

Grace followed Steve around all morning, mimicking the attitude of a loyal golden retriever. She fetched him cups of water, snacks, his cell phone if he wanted it, etc. Danny probably couldn't have helped Steve if he wanted to because Grace was beating him to it.

They were sitting out on the lanai, and at Grace's command Danny had helped Steve into the hammock where he promptly fell asleep, barricaded by pillows to accommodate his injuries.

Danny had pulled Grace into his lap and was finishing a chapter in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when she looked up at him.

"Danno?"

"What's up, Monkey?"

She tucked her head into the crook of Danny's neck, "Uncle Steve was in danger before, wasn't he?"

Sighing heavily, he nodded and gave her a squeeze, "Yeah Monkey, he was. But we got him home safe and sound, you don't have to worry anymore, okay?"

"I know. He doesn't seem sad about what happened."

Danny didn't know why his daughter's observation skills were always a surprise to him, she was raised by a detective after all.

"Well," he hesitated, unsure of how to tell his eight-year-old daughter about how her Uncle Steve used to kill bad guys for a living, "As you know, Uncle Steve is a Navy SEAL. Before he came back to Hawaii and started five-0 he chased bad guys around the world and sometimes he would end up in situations that were kinda like the one where Uncle Chin and Auntie Kono and I had to save him."

Looking down to see her reaction he saw her squint out at the ocean while she thought for a moment, "So, Uncle Steve is kind of like Captain America. He's a super hero but he still needs help from Bucky and the other guys in his army."

"Yeah Monkey, just like Captain America. Where'd you learn about him?"

Grace shrugged, "There are some annoying boys at school and all they talk about is Captain America. I just remembered what they said."

"As long as they're annoying," Danny grumbled.

When Steve woke up Danny helped him out of the hammock and Steve tossed an arm around Danny's shoulders as they walked inside. Without thinking Danny slipped his arm around Steve's waist to help support his friend but the grin that Steve gave him was not one he was expecting.

"Ooooh, Danno, take me out to dinner first, geez."

Danny felt his cheeks burn pink, "First of all, my arm isn't even that low, and second, don't make innuendos in ear shot of my daughter, you animal."

"Sorry," Steve smiled sheepishly, "I've been waiting for a chance to flirt shamelessly with you."

Rolling his eyes, he helped Steve onto a stool in the kitchen before grabbing two beers and leaned on the counter while Grace followed in behind them asking about lunch.

"I'll make some sandwiches right now, okay Monkey?"

She nodded, "Uncle Steve, do you need anything?"

He shook his head, "I think I'm in good hands with Danno here," and then he winked, and Danny was pretty sure his knees buckled.

Grace cackled when Danny looked to her with wide eyes before skipping up the stairs to her room after telling Steve to shout if he needed her.

"Do you think she heard us talking about innuendos?" Danny asked turning to Steve who just shrugged, "Steve?"

"Danny, I doubt she heard me, and even if she did it was just a joke…mostly."

Danny peaked at Steve around the open refrigerator door and rose his eyebrow, "You want me to take you to dinner?"

It was Steve's turn to blush as Danny began to work on the sandwiches and he couldn't help but laugh at the flustered SEAL.

"You alright there, Smooth dog?"

Steve glared at him for a moment before looking down at his hands, "I wasn't sure if you'd want to, you know, date and stuff?"

Of all the things that he didn't expect Steven J. McGarrett to say to him, that wasn't even on the list. How could Steve be having doubts after all that they'd talked about?

"Are you serious right now?"

Steve nodded.

Danny stopped what he was doing with the sandwiches and leaned his hands on the counter before looking right at Steve.

"Steve, are you genuinely asking me that question after all that we have talked about in the past two days? We literally confessed our love to each other and you are saying that you weren't sure if I'd wanna go on dates with you? Are you shitting me?"

A weird embarrassed chuckle escaped from Steve and he shook his head, "I dunno, man. I just—" Danny watched him pinch the bridge of his nose and look up at him through his stupidly long eyelashes, "I mean, I don't know about you, but I've never been with—well I have but I've never been with a guy, in like a serious relationship before? I've barely ever had a serious relationship period. Catherine was the most serious girlfriend I've had, and I didn't even consider her my girlfriend and I just wasn't sure where you stood on that and I didn'—"

Danny cut him off because he was rambling worse than him and it really didn't suit him the way it suited Danny.

"Steve, shut up for a second."

Steve stopped talking and took a deep breath.

"Obviously, I've been in serious relationships. I was fucking married, but, this is new for me too. I've been with guys, I had a lot of flings in college, but I've never had a serious boyfriend either. You're not alone, but we can get through this together okay?"

Steve smiled at him, "That was oddly positive of you Daniel."

He glared at Steve before continuing to make the sandwiches, "I've been feeling positive since I found out my feelings for you are more then unrequited."

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get my head out of my ass."

Danny laughed and handed Steve his sandwich, "Apology accepted as long as you send Kono a thank you card, because she's the one who yanked your head out of your ass if you ask me."

-x-

The rest of the afternoon went by much faster then Danny anticipated. When he wasn't helping Grace take care of Steve, which was a lot of the time, there was an enormous amount of tension between the two men.

There had always been tension between them, but Danny had always chalked that up to his supposedly one-sided feelings for the Navy SEAL. Now, though? Now that he knew Steve returned his feelings, taking things slow was a lot harder then he had anticipated.

Having Grace in the room always helped because she always captured both of their attention and the idea of having any sort of sexual feelings towards anyone with Grace in the room always made Danny want to vomit.

But Grace had school in the morning which meant she went to bed early, which in turn left Danny and Steve alone on the first floor of Steve's house for the first time since they had gotten back from Korea—since they had admitted their feelings, besides the night they got back and slept in bed together, too tired to do much of anything besides talk.

Danny heard the back door open and shut as he walked down the stairs from putting Grace to bed. Steve was making his way out onto the lanai with two beers, so Danny followed him out there. The moon was hiding tonight leaving the stars alone in the sky, only the slightest of light was allowing Danny to see Steve climb into the hammock.

"Think you could finagle your way into this thing with me?" Steve asked when he noticed Danny walking towards him.

"I do, and I will as long as it doesn't snap under our weight."

He took a swallow from the beer Steve handed him. Steve squinted up at him, "Is that a fat joke?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "No you goof. That is a 'we are two grown men' joke. Scooch over."

With about as much grace as a gorilla in a bookstore Danny managed to get into the hammock without hurting Steve. He set his beer on the ground next to him and slid into Steve's arms like a puzzle piece.

He'd always been a little self-conscious about his size, ever since he stopped growing at fourteen, but he made up for it with his broad stature and scrappy attitude. He got in a fight with a junior on the football team his freshmen year and beat him to a pulp, earning him a two-week suspension and unwavering respect.

Currently however, curled into Steven McGarrett's long arms and nuzzling his face into Steven McGarrett's large chest he wasn't one to complain about being the smaller of two—not that he'd ever admit that to anyone, especially Steve.

So much had happened in the past few days with getting Steve back from Korea that Danny really hadn't had a lot time to think about this new thing between them. Sure, he'd thought about it in a fleeting surge of happiness and adrenaline kind of way, but they'd only really talked about things once and all Danny said was that he wanted to 'take things slow'.

Laying in this hammock tucked into Steve he genuinely couldn't remember why he'd wanted to take things slow. He knew it had to do with his failed marriage, and wanting to do things right, but he and Steve had been doing things right since they met. Why would anything change now?

"Hey," Steve nuzzled the top of Danny's head with his nose, "You're awfully quiet, everything okay?"

"Yeah," Danny smiled up at him, "Sorry, I was just thinking about some stuff."

"Were you possibly thinking about how nice this is? Because that's what I was thinking."

Danny grinned, and the hammock swayed gently in the breeze coming off the ocean, "Something along those lines, yes."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Is that even a question? Of course, I'm going to elaborate."

The chuckle that came from deep inside Steve's chest sent a shiver down Danny's spine and he attempted to pull Steve even closer then he already was.

"Remember last night when I told you I wanted to take things slow and you said we could move at whatever pace was comfortable?"

Steve nodded, "Yes, I do. I meant it, Danny—"

"I know you did," Danny interrupted, "And I do want to take things a little slow because this situation is pretty damn new to both of us. I was afraid of messing things up, not doing this right."

"But?"

"But," Danny answered, "Fuck Steve, as soon as I got you back and knew you were safe I haven't been able to get you out of my head."

Steve grinned mischievously down at him, "Oh really?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Yes really, you big putz. You're, yah know," Danny waved a hand around trying to find the words.

"I'm what?" Steve asked with a smile, "Spit it out, Danno."

"You're hot, okay?" Danny said looking at the trees above them instead of at his partner, "You're really fucking hot and you're my best friend, and we've been doing things right since you stole my crime scene and I don't really know why I was worried in the first place, alright? There, I said it."

He peeked at Steve out of the corner of his eye and found his big, tough, Navy SEAL blushing like a school girl. That made Danny feel a little better.

"You're blushing!" Danny prodded Steve in the not-bruised area of his ribs, "Look at that, I made Smooth Dog speechless."

"I—I'm not," Steve cleared his throat, "I'm not speechless."

"Are too," Danny teased, "I, Danny Williams, was able to successfully make Steve Super SEAL McGarrett speechle—"

Danny's words were promptly swallowed down by Steve's mouth when his partner leaned down and kissed his voice away.

It was their first kiss and it was exponentially more amazing then he'd imagined it would be. Steve clearly kissed the way he did everything else, extremely well and better then anyone Danny had ever met.

Danny reached up the hand that wasn't trapped between them to cup Steve's jaw while his partner's arms encircled him even more then he thought they could. The kiss quickly went from sweet and tender to languid and heated, going from 0 to 60, another thing Steve McGarrett was particularly fond of doing.

Steve was trying to turn over so that Danny was beneath him when the hammock tipped, and they fell to the ground beneath them in a tangle of limbs and a loud thud.

Steve landed on top of Danny and the wind was pushed from him when his back hit the grass. Groaning, Danny squeezed his eyes shut before opening them to find his partner staring down at him.

"Are you okay?"

Steve was clearly concerned but all Danny could do was burst out laughing. He practically cackled before reaching up to grab Steve's neck and pull him down for another kiss. This one was full of happiness and laughter and they smiled into each other, knocking teeth.

"We would fall out of a hammock during our first kiss," Danny said sighing.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Danny rose an eyebrow, "We almost shot each other the first time we met Steven. It's your fault, you Neanderthal."

Steve had settled on top of Danny in a rather comfortable position. His hips were settled between Danny's legs and his forearms rested in the grass on either side of Danny's head. He watched as Steve's eyebrows drew together.

"Whadda you mean, its my fault? How?"

Danny huffed before resting his hands behind his head, the dewy grass stuck to his skin, "Steve, you literally tipped us out of the hammock. You're so goddamn good at everything, including kissing, and it was fucking distracting and I let you tip us out of that thing. You're. Fault."

Steve ducked his head down to kiss Danny's collar bone, "I'm not," then his neck, "going to argue with you," up his neck, "On that because," behind his ear, "I love," along his jaw, "That you think," the tip of his chin, "I'm a good kisser."

Danny looked up at the stars and sighed one of those content sighs because Steve's lips were like fire on his skin and he was literally powerless at this point. There was no ounce of will power left in him, all he could do was release a groan from his throat and pull Steve in for another kiss.

"It is so annoying how good you are that, and incredibly dangerous. Just another reason you're going to be the death of me."

Danny expected a smirk of confidence in his direction but instead he received what he thought were pink cheeks in the moonlight and a shy smile.

"Right back at you, Detective Williams." Steve pressed his forehead into Danny's chest and took a deep breath. Danny swore he felt him shudder, "Shit Danny, you've always been good with words, I just didn't realize that mouth could do what it just did."

Propping himself up on his elbows to see Steve better he looked his partner in the eye, "You've got no idea what this mouth is capable of."

THAT's IT. THAT'S THE END OF THE CHAPTER! I hope you guys like it! I'll get right on the next one as soon as I finish some other one shots and things! Review please! One Love, Liz.