Danny hadn't known you could get PTSD flashbacks by just sitting in an airplane. On the plus side, he wasn't too old to learn new things. Yay.

There had been too many trips on these planes with the temporary webbed seats, the bare walls, the cargo strapped just a few feet to his left, uniforms all around him. North Korea – the Five-0 team silent until a half hour before they landed when Joe called them over to join the planning the SEALs had been doing; then not taking his eyes off Steve's battered body the entire flight back. Cambodia – which, actually, hadn't been that bad except that Steve had been stressed beyond belief and Danny'd had to keep him grounded.

Afghanistan. Columbia.

Steve had taken Grace up to the cockpit; the mother, Jane, had taken the kids on a potty parade. He was alone with the uniforms who were all silent. He tugged his blazer closer around him. He remembered sitting in almost this exact same spot, flying out to fucking Afghanistan. He was going there to find and rescue Steve but he knew it wasn't going to work. It was the goddamn Taliban, after all. Danny would be lucky to find his brother's body. He didn't know how he'd be able to come home without Steve. But his fears hadn't come true. Danny looked down, expecting to see Steve in the stretcher. Instead, it was an oil barrel at his feet. That time, he had failed a brother. He'd only made it home because of Steve.

He squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them, he was enveloped in shadow. Steve stood in front him, towering over him, effectively blocking him from the view of everyone else on the plane.

"Danny?"

The cop's eyes went wide as he realized what happened and he looked around for Grace. Steve put a hand on his shoulder and sat down beside him.

"Relax, buddy. She's over playing with the other kids. I don't think she noticed anything." Steve looked over to the right and Danny followed his gaze to find Grace entertaining the young children. Jane seemed immensely relieved at the help.

He looked back at Steve, who looked a bit guilty. Of course he did. Because of course Steve would know he'd freak out on the plane, even when Danny himself hadn't known, and did this anyway just to torture him. Goof. The tension drained away; the last, fading ghosts of the memories finally disappeared. He grinned.

"Where'd you take my Monkey, huh? Please tell me you weren't teaching her how to jump out of the plane. There is no reason for anyone to jump out of a perfectly functioning plane, Steven, especially my beautiful daughter."

Steve smirked. "But what if it's not a perfectly functional plane, Danno? Don't you want her to be prepared?"

"Like you would put my girl on a broken plane."

"So I probably shouldn't tell you about—"

"Matthew!" Danny looked up to see a toddler barrelling toward them and then trip over the uneven floor. Danny caught the boy before he face planted and Steve squeezed his should before he turned to the young family.

505050

The rest of the flight had been uneventful. The only thing to note was that, although they didn't mention Danny's minor panic attack, Steve didn't leave his side again unless Grace called for him. After a while, they started talking with Jane and they all started playing with the kids and Jane was actually able to take a bit of a nap.

Danny and Steve bickered; Jane laughed at them, the uniforms pretended to ignore them. Danny, Steve and Grace helped Jane get the kids off the plane and to their waiting father. Steve rented a car and he drove them around for the day, showing them all the sites, before checking into the hotel.

"I'll agree to the plane, Steven," Danny had said when they planned the trip, "but I demand a hotel – a good one! There will be no lean-tos or tents or any other kind of Rambo military wilderness survival crap. You got me?"

A smirk "Yeah, Danno, I got ya."

"Aw, but adven—"

"No Monkey, light of my life, Danno can't handle that much adventure."

"Sure you can, babe. You can do anything."

A melting heart; almost caving. "No. Nyet. Whatever 'no' is in Hawaiian."

The next day would be Tex Day and the 'kids' could hardly sleep. Grace fought sleep tooth and nail – really, since when did teenagers fight sleep? And he'd had to kick Steve out of the Williams room well after midnight.

They'd met with Tom for breakfast that morning who answered all of Grace's questions and, together with Steve, told all of Tex's war stories that he couldn't tell himself. Including how he got his name. (As a newly adopted puppy, his trainer had been bringing Tex and his fellow puppy trainees to the training facility. The trainer had stopped for gas at a Texaco station and Tex wouldn't stop barking. They never did find out why; perhaps the little guy really just liked Texaco?)

Tom drove with them to the base where Steve gave another mini-tour, and the two SEALs traded embarrassing (but not too embarrassing for teenage ears) stories about each other until they arrived at the kennels. Steve even told a story about Freddie.

Tex greeted Tom enthusiastically and was happy to see Steve and then it was the moment of truth. Danny watched Grace carefully, and while she did everything Steve and Tom told her to, she didn't seem nervous at all. Tex looked at her, wagging his tail slowly, tilted his head. As he walked over to his daughter, Danny had to remind himself that neither Tom nor Steve had shown any concern about the dog. They stood side by side, arms crossed loose across their chests, smiling. Tex barked once and Danny turned back in time to see the dog drag his wet tongue up the entire right side of Grace's face. She shrieked in laughter.

"Well," Tom said, though his own laughter. "looks like we have a winner! Why don't we take him out for some exercise?"

Grace hopped up and ran over to Danny. "Can we please!?"

Which is how Danny came to be standing on a beach, looking out to the Pacific in the wrong direction; the sun starting to set in a display that was nowhere near as breathtaking as back home (don't tell Steve). Grace and Steve were playing Monkey in the Middle with a tennis ball, except Tex was the monkey instead of Grace. Even Steve's laughter carried through the air to where he stood; Grace looked eight again, not fifteen.

"You know," Tom said, appearing at Danny's side and offering a cup of coffee, which Danny accepted with a nod of thanks, "this is the beach the SEALs use for training." That put the scene before him in a whole new light. He remembered the stories of Freddie and training in the water; a younger, more carefree Steve McGarrett – but still not as carefree as he was right now.

Danny took a sip of the coffee and turned to the SEAL. "I can't thank you enough for this. It was really hard on Steve when he decided to leave. This is like giving him part of his Team back."

Tom nodded. "Well, it's not nearly as hard as not coming back for you would have been on him. Clearly, it was the best decision he's ever made. We weren't close friends – only as close as any SEAL team with a great leader is – but I could tell how much you guys meant to him. And as for Tex, well, this is the best thing for him, too."

They sipped their coffees and watched Steve and Grace and Tex play for several minutes before Tom spoke again.

"When are you guys headed back?"

"We're going to do the tourist thing tomorrow for Grace while you guys finish up with our new buddy here. We fly out Monday. Commercial." He insisted with a grin.

Tom laughed. "Well all right then."

"The kids—"

"Kids?" Danny raised an eyebrow and looked back out towards the water. "Ah right."

"The kids wanted the 'adventure' of military transport. I compromised, insisted we fly back like normal, civilized human beings." A pause. "No offense."

"None taken. I hate those things. Never fly military if I don't have to."

"Huh, look at that. Not all SEALs are crazy."

"Well, I wouldn't say that..."

"Hey, let me have my fantasy."

"Danno! Come play with us!" One of them called out to him.

"It's getting late!" He yelled back.

"Five more minutes!" Called the other one.

Danny smiled.

a/n This is it, y'all. The end of this series. The 4th in this series - the Christmas fic - is a little snapshot of life with Tex. I have no plans for any more stories in this series. That could change but at the moment, this is it. Thanks for following along and for all your comments along the way! :)