I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Summary: Danny's response to what the Aloha Girl's troop leader shared with him about Grace believing he was brave, bugged me. I guess it was a normal 'dad thing'. He was pleased but then not super convinced since he has so much to deal with. And it was compounded later with Grace's own cute words to him when she said he could do anything too. He obviously didn't believe it deep down; and to me, might fear that he might eventually let her down one day. So, this is a bit of teenie angsty, whumpy drivel type of story where Danny is hopefully shown how wrong he is. It may or may not work well but I'm giving it a go!

And the Christopher Robbin to Winnie the Pooh quote was the muse's catalyst. So I hope this all makes sense as it unfolds. "Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ― A.A. Milne

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

Steve had argued, very irritably at the young doctor's suggestion. He had been standing in the middle of the ER cradling his hand which was wrapped in a blood soaked towel and angrily watching the doors through which Danny had just disappeared. The young doctor had continued talking as he gently but firmly guided Steve to a nearby room and then tsked over the still sluggishly bleeding slash. It was deep and long, beginning from the fleshy part of his palm and arching downwards into this wrist. The doctor's wry smile widened as he gained ground with the obviously very upset Five-0 commander who finally realized that he was in fact, injured.

"How did this happen?" The commander frowned as if seeing the wound again for the first time and then winced as the doctor removed more of the towel that was wetly sticking to his palm.

"Slipped in a stairwell when the metal railing gave way." Steve had barely recognized his rough voice and he was watching the doctor examine the wound with a completely detached expression. He seemed loud and abrasive even to his own ears as he briefly detailed what had happened.

"The railing was rusted. Old. It just gave out. Sliced right through my hand."

But Steve had only been half-listening and had barely answered the doctor's questions. He had been anxiously watching the direction from where he last saw Danny taken by gurney and still unconscious. Bruised and bloodied himself from the unexpected accident; looking so much worse than what Steve had done to his own hand.

On top of everything that had just happened, the past month of Danny's life had also begun to unravel. Steve's thoughts now turned to Danny's recent one-sided conversations where he only asked that Steve listen. The not so quiet and much too sarcastic conversations that ended with Danny beating himself up in one way or another over the custody battle or lost time with Grace or now, fearful 'what if' scenarios based on their case-work. And whatever the topic of discussion, it inevitably led back to a larger than life multi-tentacled monster that would squash his chances for Grace in the custody action.

Steve lifted his newly stitched and bandaged right hand and winced as he mistakenly flexed his fingers. With a disgusted sound, he changed to use his left hand to rub his face from the exhaustion he felt creeping in with a vengeance. While it certainly wasn't true, Steve worried that this accident would only fuel Danny's self-deprecating attitude. He'd been on a personal collision course since the custody battle began and it had only been made worse by the prior month's terrorism cell. The Aloha Girl's camping trip had been the icing on the cake and Danny had slowly begun to implode from the stresses heaped on his exhausted shoulders.

A noise drew his attention from the double doors and Steve bolted to his feet as a nurse came striding out from the surgical area, but she only gave him an apologetic smile. It wasn't for him .. it wasn't about Danny. And Steve collapsed again into the uncomfortable chair as he dismally watched her give an update to an elderly man. He vaguely noted that the news must have been good based on the man's happy reaction but that only made Steve bite back a frown.

After a few minutes passed by, Steve looked at the clock for the hundredth time, slouched down in the chair and extended his legs. He forced himself to close his eyes and at least give the appearance of being relaxed as he listened to the white noise humming busily around him.

~ to be continued ~