I'll be the giraffe to your seal – My Christmas gift

Happy New Year people. Hope you've gotten good through the New Year and that all of your wishes will come true. And Merry Christmas to all that celebrated it on the 25th of December (mine is on 7th of January). This was meant to be posted yesterday, but I was out with friends for the night and I wanted to check it out once again before posting.

Newly established relationship in this one. Goes AU after 8x10.

Danny was furiously looking at the computer, clicking away at files, thousand boxes of case files next to him on the table. Steve was worried, because Danny obsessed his case pretty much after he got out of the hospital.

Since they took their relationship to the next level, Steve tried to distract Danny, be it makeout sessions, or sex, that was very light, because of Danny's injuries. Still, it did nothing to get Danny out of his dark world.

Steve was getting tired from it and soon he needed to restrain himself from reaching out and taking the files from Danny and returning them to HPD. It set his recovery back, set his insomnia in motion and often enough (when Steve was not working on a case and was actually home) Steve chased Danny with the meds and the inhaler he was required to use for his collapsed lung.

Steve knew that Danny was even more stubborn than he was when recovery was in question. But what Danny did to himself was torture.

It was the night before Christmas and the soft thump-thump of the keys on the laptop ended Steve's patience. In one swift motion he sprang from the couch and effectively removed the laptop from Danny's hands. He knew Danny was edgy and cranky, but if Steve was honest to himself, he was spoiling for a fight. Because this was not normal. He missed Danny's rants and snarks.

He missed Danny. Period.

"What the hell, Steven?" Danny growled and right there was the Danny, Steve wanted to see so bad.

"Enough, Daniel. This has been going on for a long time. And it's time to stop."

"Control freak." Danny muttered under his breath, refusing to look at Steve.

"No. Control has nothing to do with this, Danny. This is me taking care of you. Because you are doing more harm than good to yourself."

"Like I said, control freak."

Steve huffed a frustrated breath.

"If worrying about my boyfriend bordering on obsession about his shooting makes you think that, then yes, I am a control freak. I love you, Danny. But you need to slow down."

"I need to find that son of a bitch."

"What you need, is to leave all of this to rest for a while. It's Christmas tomorrow, Danny. You need to let go. I know you almost died, and you want to find who's responsible, but this is killing you, Danny. And me too. It's killing me to see you like this, defeated."

"I can't stop now, Steve. I need to... I need to find a closure. Because I see his face every night I go to sleep. I can't... I can't let go until whoever is behind this is behind bars."

Steve sighed and took a chair out and sat on it, directly facing Danny, their knees touching.

"You are driving yourself crazy in circles, Danny. It's not healthy. I worry about your health. I remember you were griping at me for not following the post op rules after the liver transplant, and now you are doing the same. You need to relax."

"How can I relax, Steven, huh? There's still a threat out there. What if it's Grace or Charlie? What if it's you? If they harm you in any way, I'm never gonna forgive myself for letting that happen, when I could've prevented it in the first place."

"Danny... You are not doing any good to you and us if you get yourself in a hospital, again, because of overthinking it and virtually not taking care of yourself. I promise you, we'll get that son of a bitch. One way or the other. But we'll do it together. As a team. When we are ready and healed enough. You are still in a recovery period, so starting from now on, you are not to touch anything that has something to do with work. You have the kids for two weeks for the holidays, we have the kids, so you are gonna focus more on that. Okay?"

Danny nodded.

"I'm sorry." Danny breathed out and his shoulders slumped dejectedly.

"What for?"

"For being an ass and treating you like a piece of shit. I kinda got into the mindset that if I look into my old cases that I'll find a connection with the shooting, that I can sleep at night and enjoy my time with you. Babe, I love you, more than you know. I just can't seem to get over it. I'm truly sorry."

"Oh, Danny... Baby, you have me. And the kids. Our team and friends. You can come to me, or them. Whatever you need. Whenever you need it. Please, don't shut us out."

Danny looked sad and sullen.

Steve pulled Danny's hands together and cupped them with his.

"I love you, Danny. Let me take care of you."

"I love you, too, Steve. Okay. I promise. No more obsessing over the case and whatever it is, you are the first to know."

Steve smiled and saw the dark cloud lifting itself from their heads. In the next moment Steve was pulled in a deep kiss.

An hour later found them in bed, after releasing all the pent up frustration and tension in a slow lovemaking.

Danny's head was propped on Steve's shoulder, his steady breaths tickling sensitive skin. Steve was carding his fingers through Danny's hair, caressing his ear and resting his hand behind Danny's neck.

Danny sighed, and it seemed like he was releasing lot more than just the sigh.

"Thank you, Steve."

"I'm pretty sure you are the first person thanking me for sex, Danny, but you are welcome nonetheless."

Danny punched Steve on the bicep and Steve yelped.

"What was that for?" Steve sounded a bit confused.

"That's not why I was saying thanks, you goof. I was saying thank you for always being there for me. When I need you to ground me and to slow me down. I appreciate it, Steve. Not many people are able to put up with a person like me, especially when I'm in that deep black hole where I get driven and can't seem to find my way back to normal."

"You don't have to thank me, Danny. More times than not I'm doing the same thing. But there was a certain someone that taught me to look at things differently. So, I try to instill that into him. If he'll let me."

Danny smiled and kissed Steve, his lips lingering over Steve's a few seconds longer than usual.

"I'm so lucky, babe."

Steve removed a fallen strand of hair from Danny's forehead before he kissed Danny on the temple.

"We both are, Danno. We both are."

Danny settled his head on Steve's shoulder and felt his boyfriend tighten the grip that he had on him. Within minutes Danny was softly snoring, while Steve guarded his dreams.

…

In the morning, Steve woke up before Danny and disentangled himself from the starfish that currently resided in the bed. Steve was definitely the handsy one in their relationship, but Danny's sleeping positions were hilarious, matching Steve to a T. Unless Steve was spooning Danny, he found Danny in a different position every morning.

Steve placed a gentle and chaste kiss on Danny's lips, before affectionately rubbing his head and left the room.

Danny didn't even stir when Steve woke up and wandered around in the room. The exhaustion was visible on his face, but it was slowly fading as he had his first good night's sleep in a few weeks.

Steve together with Gracie and Charlie pottered around in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, decision made in unison that they were gonna surprise Danny this fine morning.

Only by sheer will Charlie did not go in the living room to open his presents already. Grace rolled her eyes at her brother's antics, but she remembered when she was his age, feeling the same enthusiasm Charlie had right now.

The pancakes were already done, and placed on the table, maple syrup next to the stack. Grace flipped on the bacon in the pan while Steve made scrambled eggs. Charlie helped with the toast, just as his uncle showed him the other day.

The sight of his three most favorite people working like busy bees in the kitchen greeted a very sleepy Danny.

He was not grumbling, which was very surprising coming from someone like Danny that would chop off your head if you dare talk to him before he had his first mug of coffee.

Something warm and gooey spread itself inside his heart and Danny found himself instantly drawn to Steve.

Grace saw him first, before Charlie, but Danny put his index finger over his mouth in the global 'shush' sign so they won't alert Steve of his presence.

Danny came from behind Steve, peeking at the pan while touching Steve on the elbow.

"I get that someone woke up hungry?" Steve grumbled as he turned around to look at Danny.

"Good morning to you, too, McGarrett." Danny replied in which earned him a playful nudge from Steve.

"Morning, Danno." Steve bent lower to capture Danny's lips in a morning kiss, aware he probably looked like a lovesick idiot, but he didn't care. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. The best sleep I got in days. Thank you." Danny rested his head on Steve's bicep and sighed.

"You should have slept for a few more hours. You need to rest, Danny."

"Nah, I'm fine." Danny said. "Besides, believe it or not, I feel rested."

Steve looked at him suspiciously, but said nothing as he deemed the eggs perfectly cooked and set them in the plates together with the bacon.

Danny decided to participate in the morning ritual his family of three already established when they were together and busied himself with washing and cutting vegetables for a salad.

Steve was a 'bad' influence, after all.

…

After the wonderful breakfast, all 4 of them went in the living room to open their presents.

Steve noticed 4 parcels sitting in a corner that weren't there yesterday when he was putting the presents under the tree.

Looking unquestioningly at Danny the blonde smiled and communicated that he'll tell him later. But judging from the scrawny handwriting and the meticulously wrapped presents, it came from Danny's mom.

It wasn't something new to Steve that Clara would think to send a present for him, too, but still it warmed him up with the thought that Clara loved him as a son and the "It was about time" he got from her when Danny's parents were notified about the progress of their thing, should've told Steve he won't be an exception.

Charlie ran off to try the new Christmas jumper he got from Danny (Santa, thank you very much) and Grace went to help him out, taking the boxes with their names with her.

Once the kids were out of earshot, Danny set to explain the arrival of presents.

"My mom called the other day. She said she wanted to come over since we couldn't go there, but I told her that it's not necessary. It's one hell of money she'd spend for a ticket and my father, too. I can tell that she is still worried, tho."

"Of course she'll be worried. She's your mother, Danno."

"Yeah…" Danny's voice trailed a bit, but he quickly got back on track. "She said that she'll send presents and that she had the perfect match for all of us. She's so excited that we're together, I think she was counting the days until she got that phone call." Danny chuckled and ducked his head to hide the blush.

Steve found blushing Danny cute and unconsciously reached out to touch Danny's cheek.

Having Danny with him, on their first Christmas together as a couple was one of the most amazing things that happened in Steve's life. He was grateful that Danny survived his near death experience and that the effects from the radiation poisoning were put on hold for the moment.

Steve had Danny, Gracie and Charlie with him on a such important day that was all about family and love. Something it took him years to understand, because of his past experience with "family".

Danny was torn out of his staring match as Steve kissed him.

"What was that for?" came Danny's smiling voice and incredulous look.

"Mistletoe." whispered Steve as he retrieved the box with his name and hid in the guest room to open it and see what Clara got him.

Danny looked up and saw that indeed there was a mistletoe and laughed at himself muttering "sap" as he went to his room to open his present.

…

Steve stared at the little piece of paper in his hand and the grin mixed with the tears on his face threatened to split his face in half.

"Steven, I'm aware that you and Daniel are two grown ups and you may find this a little bit silly, but I couldn't resist when I was shopping for the kids. Hope that Daniel likes the look on you when you put it on ;)"

Clara most probably thought of the giraffe onesie Steve now held in his hand. It woke up an old feeling in Steve from that time couple of years ago when Danny told him his favorite animal was a giraffe.

As Steve slowly slipped inside the onesie he wondered what Danny's present was.

Couple of minutes later a very excited Charlie ran into the room, dressed in a tiger onesie. Followed by a little bit of an embarrassed Grace in a monkey onesie.

Clara made a point with this year's Christmas gifts, Steve concluded. But, they were missing one more "animal", if Steve's calculations were correct.

"Where's Danno, Uncle Steve?" Grace was the first to ask.

"Don't know."

"He's probably opening his present." Grace said to no one in particular. "You go to him, Uncle Steve, and we'll wait for you in the living room. There are still couple of presents we didn't open."

Steve agreed and headed to Danny's bedroom, but stopped abruptly as he was met with his partner's back. Danny was only in his boxers, slipping on a onesie. Steve smiled to himself as he could see the outline of the animal. A seal. Clara really went overboard this year.

Once Danny put on his onesie and adjusted it, Steve got into the room and in one second flat he was plastered all over his boyfriend's back.

He gently wrapped his arms around the smaller man, practically swallowing him in a mix of an octopus and giraffe embrace. Steve had to bend a little because of the height difference to reach his goal, as he placed a kiss to Danny's neck and then one to his cheek.

Danny hummed as he felt Steve moving his arms to trap him against his body.

"Not that I don't appreciate this, but who are you and what have you done with my Steve?" Danny asked playfully.

"Have I told you how much I love the fact that you are the shorter one, Danny?" Steve nuzzled his neck as he tightened the grip.

"I swear to God, Steven, if this is one of those short jokes again-"

It was awkward to reach his goal, but Steve managed and kissed Danny to shut him up.

"No, Daniel. This is me telling you, how much I love you are the shorter one. Because you fit perfectly next to me. And because you are so damn huggable all the time." Steve breathed against Danny's cheek.

Danny tried hard to contain the grin that threatened to get out without his permission and for the first time he hadn't had any smartass remarks for Steve.

"I love you. All of you. Want you to remember that, Danno." Steve turned Danny around to face him. "And I'll never tire from saying that. Because it's the truth."

Danny was touched. Really touched. But, he willed his tears to stop from spilling down his cheeks. Because this was a happy moment.

"I love you, too, babe. Always and forever."

The squealing from Grace and Charlie when Danny and Steve joined them in the living room just proved that to both.

…