Missing scene from 6.06 Na Pilikua Nui (Monsters) Spoilers!

A/N The characters are not mine.

A/N In my opinion, the writers made a huge mistake in this ep. They already did an ep where Grace lied to Danny about where she was going. This one needed something more, something different. This is my attempt to fix that. This missing scene assumes a missing scene, or at least one line, between Danny and Grace.

A/N It also made no sense that Danny and Grace didn't get back until late enough in the morning for the hospital to be having a Halloween party – a day after Halloween, but whatever, I won't touch that one.

H50 H50 H50

When Danny's visit with Charlie was finished, he was exhausted. He had been up all night driving 35 miles to get Grace, heading back and then hitting the guardrail when he swerved to miss the wild boar. On top of that, the night before had been a short one, having been sent to the sight where the gruesome cut up bodies had been found. Thank God it was Sunday. Steve had sent him a text saying they had wrapped the case up so he didn't need to work. He headed out to the parking lot and sighed as he remembered - he didn't have a car. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he called Steve and asked him for a ride, saying he'd tell him everything when he got there.

He sunk down on a bench outside and waited, nearly asleep by the time Steve pulled up in his truck.

"Where's your car?" Steve asked as Danny climbed in. He put the truck in gear and headed out.

"Nice to see you too, Steven, and Charlie's doing great. Thanks for asking. What happened to your face?"

"A little run in with our Frankenstein killer. I'm fine."

"Sorry I wasn't there to back you up."

"Family first, Danny." He looked at his friend now. He looked exhausted and he appeared to be wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday. "You okay?"

"Yeah. No." Danny sighed. "Need some sleep."

"You want to tell me what happened first or how Charlie's doing?"

Danny smiled a tired smile. "He's doing really well. He dressed up as a Sheriff so he could be a cowboy and a cop like me."

Steve smiled broadly. "That's great! He really loves his Danno, huh?"

"I hope so." Danny sighed again.

"Come on man. Talk to me. What is it?"

"It's Grace."

Steve sat up straighter in his seat and looked at Danny, alarmed. "What happened? Is she alright?"

"Nothing like that," Danny assured him, allowing Steve to relax a bit. "She's just not handling all this stuff with Charlie as well as I thought."

"Angry? Jealous?"

"Both. Throw in confused and scared while you're at it."

"Ah man. It's a tough situation, that's for sure. But I know you've been trying to give her as much attention as you did before."

"Yeah, but I can't. There's just not enough hours in the day. Charlie's just a kid. Somebody needs to be there with him all the time. Sometimes Grace just gets stuck at home with the maid if she doesn't want to sit at the hospital with Charlie and me." He rubbed his face in exhaustion.

"She's a smart girl. I'm sure she understands," Steve said.

"That's what you said about Charlie," Danny reminded him. "On some level she understands, yeah, but it's still rough. I don't ever want her thinking she's not as important to me now that I know that Charlie is mine but I also have to be there for him. He's my kid, too."

"Seems to me like you need more family," Steve said.

"I thought about asking my parents, but I know they can't afford airfare out here again. Besides, Mom hasn't taken the news of Charlie very well. I have the dubious distinction of being the only member of the family to get divorced and the only one with an illegitimate child," Danny admitted quietly. "She's doing better now, but, they just can't come and help."

Steve reached over with his right hand and gripped Danny's shoulder. There really wasn't anything he could say about Danny's mom, but he knew he could help anyway. "Then how about Uncle Steve?"

Danny turned and looked at him, his eyes expressing gratitude for the show of support. "What about Uncle Steve?"

"Charlie doesn't know me – yet – but Grace does. Instead of leaving her home with the maid, she can spend some time with me."

Tears sprang unbidden to Danny's eyes and he covered his mouth with his hand. How did he ever gain a friend like this? He sniffed and wiped the tears from his eyes, but they wouldn't stop quite that easily.

Steve slapped Danny on the shoulder now and grinned. "Mark the record books. I left you speechless."

Danny sniffed again, gaining a bit of composure now with the help of Steve's dumb joke. "Neanderthal."

They rode in companionable silence for a few moments before Danny spoke again. "I think she'd like that. I'll talk to her. Thanks, babe." He paused a moment before adding, "You sure?"

"I'm sure. So, where was she?"

"At a house party out on the North Shore. It was wild. I was so tempted to walk in there wearing my badge and gun." He chuckled lightly, and then sobered. "She had the nerve to tell me I was embarrassing her when I told her to leave." He took a deep calming breath. "When I spoke to her about lying to me and her mother you know what she said? She said Rachel lied to me about Charlie for three years. As if that made it right." He clenched his fists and growled in frustration.

"Kind of a tough road to go down," Steve said, understanding his friend's frustration.

"She lied to me about where she was going once before, when she went to the ice cream shop with that boy. She felt so guilty after. We talked and I thought she understood how important it was that I could trust her, and now this."

"Look, she's just acting out, trying for some attention. You should have seen some of the things I did after my Mom died. Well, after we thought she died. I just wanted my Dad to notice me, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know. It's just so hard, so complicated."

"I'm here for you, Danno, the rest of the team, too. Let us help."

"Yeah, thanks, babe." Danny wasn't very good at asking for help. He was the one people came to, not the other way around. But this team, his ohana, had proven already that they were there for him, Steve especially. "Really, thank you." Again, he was at a loss for words.

"So now, tell me what happened to your car and why you're stinking up my truck with the same clothes you had on yesterday."

Danny sighed. "I was driving back with Grace and there was this wild boar…"

finished