The rotors of the helicopter cut through the sub zero air above them, as they headed to safety. Soaring above the snow capped mountains, back to civilization. Back to the real world. But what kind of world had they been left with?

Catherine sat dazed on one of the bench seats, glaring into thin air, her eyes were vacant yet her expression showed that of complete devastation. Her body rocked, surrendering to every movement of the aircraft.

Danny sat opposite her, with Grace wrapped protectively in his arms. Truth be told, he didn't know who was protecting who. If she hadn't have been here, if he hadn't needed to be strong for her, he would have lost the hold on his emotions some time ago. She was the only thing forcing him to remain composed.

"This is my fault, Danno." Grace said softly as she looked up at her father.

He frowned, pained that she could even think such a thing. "No baby. Don't you think that for one minute." He whispered sincerely. He could still feel her shivering despite of the warmed blankets she'd been wrapped in. Her lips tinged with blue, the skin cracked from the elements. "It's going to be ok… it's going to be fine…" he continued before his eyes drifted over to a jacket, belonging to Steve, carelessly discarded on the floor of the helicopter when she'd gotten in and immediately treated by the rescue medics. His heart sank, he could feel the rush of sadness engulf his mind and his eyes started to burn as the tears welled in his eyes. "Just relax… okay" he whispered as he pulled her tighter against his chest.

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2 days earlier…

"You done boss?" Kono asked as she stepped into his office.

Steve closed the computer lid and looked up. "Yeah, all my reports are up to date and logged… don't count on Danny's being done though." He grinned.

"A week in Colorado, skiing… I'm jealous."

"Snowboarding… and I'm sure if you gave him the slightest hint Danny would trade you the ticket."

"Surly he's looking forward to the time with Grace?" she smirked. "He's been trying to take her on vacation forever."

"Yeah, I just think he was hoping her choice in destination would be a certain concrete jungle, west of Manhattan and not throwing himself down the side of a mountain."

She grinned. "What time's your flight?"

Steve looked at his watch. "Leaves in four hours. Cath got there last night."

"You must be looking forward to seeing her, huh?" Kono answered.

"I can't wait." He sighed with relief.

"Do me a favour." Danny growled as he walked through the door. "Use this week to try and talk some sense into my daughter."

"I'm sorry… I know a DNA test hasn't been done but I'm pretty sure that falls under your job description." Steve replied with confusion.

"Not when she gets all her ideas off of you." Danny hissed, glancing at Kono. "I just got off the phone to Grace… my thirteen year old daughter wants to use this vacation to train."

Steve shrugged with confusion.

"A fundraiser… hiking up Mauna Kea on the big island, in the fall, with her Adventure Scouts. She's chosen to raise money for wounded service personnel."

"Sounds like a noble cause." Kono nodded.

"Noble, yes… out of her mind, crazy dangerous… absolutely. Sound like anyone we know?" Danny answered.

"And this is my fault, how?" Steve frowned.

"Because for some reason, that I will never understand, the more she gets older the more she seems to idolize you, of all people." He growled before looking back at Kono. "One minute he takes her to Pearl Harbour for a tour, she comes back in total awe… doesn't stop talking about it for weeks… the next thing she's joining this Adventure Scouts group and planning to stroll up the side of a snow covered volcano…"

"Dorment volcano." Steve whispered.

Danny glared at him for his interruption. "You were the one she got the idea of going to Colorado from. Talking about one of your buddies from SEAL team whatever having this place in the mountains."

"Actually, that was Catherine, one of her friends from Navy Intel. But don't let that get in the way of your meltdown." Steve interrupted again with even more amusement.

Danny tightened his jaw but chose to ignore him. "It's only a matter of time before she starts talking about being in the Navy and before I know it she'll be patrolling the streets of Kabul wearing fatigues and holding a rifle."

"It's a hike, Danny. An innocent hike with a group of people she likes to spend time with, for a cause she has interest in helping with. It's not BUD's." Steve raised his eyebrows.

"You know, I did that hike when I was about her age." Kono answered. "Taught me a lot about strength and determination."

"There you go…" Steve said with his hand out to Kono.

"I'd be happy to chaperone her if they are looking for helpers." Kono nodded.

"Yeah, so would I." Steve nodded.

Danny sighed with frustration. "I'm going to pick my daughter up from school, go home and pack. I suggest you use the time between now and meeting you guys at the airport to think of how you are going to make this situation better."

"Better for you or better for her?" Steve grinned.

"Do you even comprehend the level at which I am at with hating you right now?" Danny answered as he turned for the door.

"I'll see you at the airport Danno." Steve smirked.

Danny left without another word.

"A full week with each other… should be interesting." Kono raised her eyebrows as she turned to Steve. "Cath and Grace know what they are in for?"

"It's going to be great." Steve nodded with a smile.

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Danny sighed as they neared the top of the mountain, on the chair lifts, with Grace. Steve and Catherine were two chairs behind. Danny thought this was more deliberate on Steve's behalf than accidental. He'd at least get a good view if Danny was to fall flat on his face.

Grace looked at him. "You have done this before, right Danno?" she asked softly.

"Have I done this before?" he answered positively. "Monkey, I used to be Jerseys answer to Bode Miller." He lied. "It's just been a few years since I last went down a very steep and very angry looking mountain." He said as he looked at the slope. "Might take me a couple of runs before I'm back to my A game."

The climb suddenly subsided and Danny knew this would be challenge one, getting off the chair without stacking and prompting the hyena behind him. He conjured up all his concentration as his ski's hit the snow and he pushed himself up and clear of the chair. Gliding down the ramp he was pleased with himself until it came to the stopping.

In his panic he'd let one ski cross the other prompting him to fall forward towards the snow only to have his skis prevent him actually making it to the ground. When he finally threw himself sideways into a mound of snow he knew it was anything but graceful and he knew the hyena would have seen it.

To add insult to injury, Danny was agitated by two young children with their ski instructor, who glided past him with complete ease and laughed with pity before disappearing at high speed. Then came Steve. "What are you doing?" he asked, not even trying to hide the amusement in his voice.

"I'm having a coffee." He growled. "What do you think?"

Steve laughed. "Here…" he said holding out his hand.

"I can do it." Danny snipped stubbornly as he pushed himself up to his feet but clumsily sliding forward with little control. He stopped by grabbing hold of Grace's arm and stood straight when he gained his balance like it was nothing. "I'd forgotten that these runs look steeper at the top than they do down the bottom." He stuttered as he looked down.

"Maybe you should have done some of the easier slopes first off Danny?" Cath answered helpfully.

"He'll be fine. It's like riding a bike, you'll remember it once you start." Steve said encouragingly.

Grace bounced up and down impatiently, standing up after fixing her second boot to her board. The only reason Danny was up here was because this was all about spending time with Grace and yet he was only holding her back. "You guys head down, I'll meet you at the bottom. I'm going to take my time."

"No Danno, I'll wait with you." She shook her head.

"You'll catch up to me on the next run down. Go…" he nodded softly.

"I'll come with you, Grace." Cath nodded before looking at Steve. "You coming?"

"You know what? I'm going to stick with Danny… I think he has a point, just slowly getting back into it. It's been a couple of years for me too." Steve excused himself.

"Okay… well then let's go Grace." Catherine smiled before the pair cut their boards through the snow and treeline, disappearing.

Steve and Danny watched them. Steve wore a stupid grin and Danny's expression was simply filled with the horror he hadn't been able to show before now.

"You've never skied before. Have you?" Steve said as he held his eyes down the mountain.

"Never." Danny replied.

Steve turned to Danny with a disapproving look. "Right, so your Bode Miller of Jersey story…"

"All lies." Danny nodded.

"That's… that's great." Steve nodded.

"Don't judge me. I just wanted to do something for my daughter, spend some quality time bonding with her."

"What? In the hospital?" Steve growled knowing that it was now his responsibility to not only talk him down the mountain but to physically get him down. "Do you know anything about skiing?"

"I know that it's suicidal. I know that." Danny nodded.

"Let me ask you a question. How were you planning to get down?"

"On my ass if I had too." Danny nodded.

"Okay…" Steve sighed. "Well let's try and do it on your skis."

Danny exhaled a heavy breath.

"You need to go from one side of the slope to the other, when you turn you need to get your ski's facing across and not downhill, otherwise you're going to end up in a tree and that's going to hurt." Steve explained.

"Are you trying to throw me off completely?" Danny growled.

"You don't want my help? Fine… go ahead… go." Steve nodded as he pointed down the hill.

"Just… help me." Danny winced with frustration.

"Don't try to keep your skis flat on the ground as you're going across, you'll just slip down sideways. They have sharp edges for a reason, use them to cut through the snow on an angle."

Danny nodded before he started, cautiously yet successfully gliding to the other side and then turning to repeat.

"Yeah Danny!" Steve called out with pride. "Keep doing that and you'll be fine."

"Four years I've survived with you and in this moment, this is what is going to kill me." Danny shouted nervously.

"Why don't you shut up and concentrate. You're doing great." He said encouragingly as he watched him from the top so he could easily provide assistance if Danny got into trouble.

Danny zigzagged about 8 times without issue before he hit a small sheet of ice, causing his ski's to slip further than he planned down the hill. As they involuntarily faced slightly more toward downhill he picked up speed. The only way he could think of stopping was to throw himself into the mounds of snow piled on the side of the slope in the hope it would cushion him more than a tree. The piled snow was deceiving, a lot harder than it looked but still the better option. He awkwardly fumbled around with his stocks and ski's, trying to get his legs and feet back around into their natural way.

Steve slipped down the snow with complete ease on his board and over into Danny's direction, but couldn't resist showering Danny with a wave of snow as he stopped.

Danny glared at him, unimpressed by his antics.

"Come on Danny, lets go." Steve nodded. "You sit here long enough you'll talk yourself out of carrying on."

"I think that ship has well and truly sailed." Danny moaned.

Steve shook his head with amusement. "Come on."

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The wooden cabin sat at the foot of one of the quieter ski mountains in the Rockys. It was small, but it served its purpose with two bedrooms, a small living area, bathroom and a kitchen. The selling point had to be veranda that wrapped around two sides, looking up the ski fields. One span open and the other partially enclosed so you could still enjoy the crisp, winter nights in some kind of comfort on the garden furniture. The only light on the veranda was provided by several candles dotted around the enclosed area.

In the darkness of the night the pine trees seemed to glow with the snow that sat with ease on the needles and branches. The sky was clear with a magnitude of stars shining down like a painting. The only sounds were from the nocturnal wildlife and the distant rumble of the snow grooming machines in the distance.

It had been a day of fun, for most of them, although Danny insisted he'd suffered by the many falls he'd endured during his first and, self-declared, only time he would ever try skiing. He hadn't even been open to Steve's suggestion of snowboarding and had settled with the idea of finding a spot in the lounge of a bar for the rest of the week.

After dinner Catherine had decided to indulge in a long bath while Steve grabbed a couple of beers, suited up and headed out to sit on the veranda and enjoy some peace. He cracked open the lid and sank back into one of the wooden chairs, stretching his legs out in front of him and resting his head back. He closed his eyes, this was his idea of paradise.

The door swung open loudly as Danny exited, the noise his feet made seemed to match that of a stampede of elephants.

"You know there is a nice, warm fire going in there. What are you sitting out here for?"

"Peace." Steve sighed as he straightened his body, aggravated about the interruption.

Danny slumped down into another chair.

"Grace asleep?" Steve asked.

"Yeah."

Steve paused as he inhaled the cool air, looking out over the mountain. "She did well out there today." Steve nodded with approval. "She picked up boarding real quick. She's determined, Danny… I'll give you that." He said as he raised the bottle to his lips.

"You got a beer… did you get me a beer? Where's my beer?" Danny asked pointing.

Steve sighed and reached down beside his chair, pulling up his extra bottle of beer and handing it to Danny.

"She asked me if I'd take her hiking up the mountain tomorrow…" Steve said. "Thought I should check with you first."

"Are you going to talk to her?"

"About what, Danny?" Steve shrugged.

Danny shook his head defensively and shrugged. "Get her mind out of doing this hike to start with. Once you've done that you can start talking her out of any crazy career ideas she has in mind."

"Okay, first of all she's thirteen, Danny. You hold her back from things and she's going to want to do them more."

"And you are totally qualified in this field how?" Danny snarled.

"Apparently I remember my teenage years a little better than you do." He answered.

Danny thinned his lips with frustration. "I know I never once wanted to join an adventure scouts group. And I never had the slightest interest with the Navy."

"Danny… you would typically avoid anything that had the word adventure in it… it's a natural reaction to you. Grace lives in a place where military presence is a big thing. Of course she is going to have an interest in it. A lot of kids do on Oahu."

"Which makes number 6754 reasons I hate that island."

"Did you ever think that her interest could purely about learning and experiencing other things? About overcoming diversity? Perhaps even about helping others?" Steve answered with sarcasm dripping from his tone.

"It's a domino effect, Steven."

"Hiking a mountain for a fundraiser is hardly a precursor to a life of crime or a seat on a C17 bound for the Middle East." He replied.

"No, it's a precursor to becoming a lunatic. Taking stupid risks." Danny answered in an irrational tone.

"This drama, it's all in your head." He argued.

"And that's where I don't want it to be!" Danny sniped back.

Steve sighed, he knew he wouldn't get anywhere with Danny when he was in this kind of mood. He nodded. "I'll talk to her." He whispered.

"I'll talk her out of any ideas, that's what you were supposed to say." Danny pushed.

"I'll talk to her about any ideas she might have. That's as much as I can promise." Steve grinned.

"Thank you." Danny replied.

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"Good morning…" Catherine smiled as she walked into the kitchen where Steve was packing a small bag with water and snack bars.

"Hey…" he whispered softly as he kissed her. "How did you sleep?"

"I was out like a light." She pushed herself up to sit on the counter and grinned. "So Danny agreed to Grace heading up the mountain?"

He nodded as he swung the bag over his shoulder. "You wanna come with?"

"No… I'm going to go for a walk into town." She sighed.

"Okay, but I want you to myself this afternoon." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Really… did you have any plans?"

"Something physical." He said with his boyish grin. "Very physical."

"I like the sound of that." She grinned as she placed her hands on the back of his head and kissed him.

"Be ready by one." He grinned as he released his hold on her.

She frowned.

"You and me, boarding…" he said with amusement that she could possibly be thinking of anything else.

She sighed with a grin. "Right."

"What were you…?" he started with shock. "You have a one track mind, you know that right?" he continued playfully.

"Shut up." She smacked him softly. "Go. Have fun."

He kissed her one last time before heading outside to join Grace.

"Okay kiddo… so you ready?"

"Yeah." She answered excitedly.

"Let's do this." He nodded.

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"Uncle Steve." Grace said with exhaustion as they navigated the trail.

He turned and saw her standing there, drawing back her breath. "We are so close to the summit Gracie. A couple of hundred feet and you'll be at the top."

"You said that 20 minutes ago." She protested.

"This time I mean it." He grinned. "You got to keep pushing yourself, Grace. You got to stay focused."

She sighed as she pushed on, following him for another five minutes before they came out to a clearing. A slight incline to the top of the world. "See Grace… you did it." He said proudly. "Now how bad would you have felt if you'd given up?"

"Bad." She said as she threw herself down on the ground.

"Right?" he nodded. "Here…" he offered her a bottle of water. "Check this view out."

She scanned the horizon, the smaller mountains that were below them and the clear blue sky ahead.

"There is nothing like feeling you're the only people in the world." He admired. "There's only one other place I've ever felt like that before."

"Where?" Grace asked.

He looked at her, hesitated for a moment before looking out over the ranges again. "On a deployment in the Middle East."

"Seriously?" Grace answered with surprise.

His eyes drifted down. "Yeah, I mean I was often on my own for lengths of time in the mountains. I thought I would hate it, turns out I didn't." He smiled softly as he walked over and sat down next to her. He sighed. "You know Danno is worried about this climb you have up Mauna Kea."

"It's totally safe. People do it every single day." She looked at him.

"I know that. But you know what he's like." He nodded. "Maybe you should talk about it with him? Show him how serious you are about wanting to do it. What it means to you."

Grace nodded gently.

"He's protective of you… I get that. He sees you as his baby girl still… and you are… but you're growing up and he needs a little help accepting that."

She nodded before they paused for a moment, lapping up the suns rays and enjoying the serenity until Grace looked at him again. "Uncle Steve?"

He looked at her.

"How did you know you wanted to be in the Navy?"

Steve turned to face her, perhaps Danny wasn't so wrong after all. He shrugged. "It was just something that seemed natural to me. Like I was expected to do it." He paused. "Family business."

"Were you ever scared?"

He thinned his lips and nodded gently. "Yeah…" he whispered. "Many times."

"Of getting hurt?"

He thought for a moment. If this were an adult he would be cutting this conversation off at this point, but there was something about his relationship with Grace. She had the genuineness about her, even at such a young age. He felt comfortable opening up. "Of getting hurt, of losing friends… but one of the biggest things for me was how much it would change me." He shrugged. "Being in places like that, with everything that goes on, it can strip everything away from you. Your trust, your freedom… your relationships… you see the world a lot differently. Not with the same kind of innocence you had before. That's tough to deal with."

Grace looked at him, her expression filled with sympathy.

His phone beeped, signalling a message. He skimmed over the words before turning to look behind them. An off white cloud was building. "That's a snow warning…" he said, standing up. "We should head back down. There's a track down here, it's the quickest way down and more sheltered."

"Okay." Grace stood up.

"I'm proud of you Grace." Steve said as he patted her on the back. "Real proud of you."

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Steve stopped to check the caller ID on his cell, he knew the signal was intermittent so he decided he should stay in one spot while he took the call. "Danny." He said, glancing at Grace. "No, we are fine." He nodded. "Yes, we got the weather warning and we are on our way down now. We should be around 30 minutes." He paused as he listened to his friends voice.

Grace looked around and noticed through the trees a group of deer. She smiled as she stepped carefully over, closer to them to take a picture on her cell.

"Yes Danny." Steve continued with a frustrated tone. "You know what? If you hang up we will get down there quicker." He nodded. "Okay. We will see you soon."

"Uncle Steve… look." Grace called out as she walked towards the deer, concentrating only on her phone's screen.

"White tailed deer. They're native to this area." Steve said as he walked over behind her. "Hey, Grace… remember what I said… stick to the trails."

"There's a baby." She gushed as she stepped into the deep and un-groomed snow on the edge of the trail. "My mom would love these."

"Ok, a couple more pictures and then we got to keep moving." Steve nodded as he looked up into the sky, it was clear for now but he didn't know how long it would stay that way. "Grace… come on… lets go." He repeated, walking over and touching her shoulder. Suddenly the ground gave way and the pair fell through the blanket of snow and ice.