New Memories

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

I own none of them

Author Note

Just an one shot I was inspired to write after watching episode 10 of season 1 (The one where him and Steve are at Rachel's house)

Romance

McDanno

Danny didn't even know why he had suggested it in the first place.

The last thing he wanted to do was to go out for a meal and drinks, drinks meant thinking and thinking meant thinking of Rachel and Gracie and the life which wasn't his anymore. Rachel wasn't his anymore, she was something to be admired from a distance, a faint painful memory of when his life had been normal. Hell nothing had been normal for him since he had moved to Hawaii. The only time he faint remotely like his old self was when he was on the job or with Grace. That was the only time things made sense.

He blinked realising that the scenery passing the window was wrong, they should have been passing crowded bars filled with happy drunk people instead of rows of houses.

"Hey are we-" he began, stopping in surprise when Steve reached across and placed his hand against Danny's mouth, stopping the flow of words before he could started.

"I know you well enough Danno to know that you don't want to be out in public regardless of what you say." Steve said simply, still holding his hand over Danny's mouth as he glanced over towards him "So I figured that we might as well save our self some time and effort and just head back to mine. It's quiet so you can rant to your heart's content without pissing off the local community, besides-" Steve continued, clearly ignoring the death glare Danny was fixing on him. "I've got plenty of cold beers in the fridge and I'm pretty sure I got some steak left over from last weeks BBQ. It won't take me long to get the grill up and running. Even you can't argue against that" Steve commented, his mouth quirking into a slight smile.

Danny huffed, reaching up and wrapping his hand around Steve's wrist and pulling it away from his mouth, for a moment he thought about arguing just for the sake of it but he couldn't find the energy in him to do it, not when Steve's plan sounded like heaven though there was no way he was going to tell him that. It was hard enough reining in his partner's inflated ego as it was. Instead he rolled his eyes, slumping back in the passenger seat and watching the houses. He was aware of Steve constantly looking towards him but he didn't bother meeting his eyes. The minute he did was the minute Steve would ask him if he was okay and Danny didn't think he could cope with Steve's concern at that moment in time. Not when he was feeling surprisingly fragile, his heart aching in his chest.

He sighed when Steve pulled into his driveway, reaching down and unclipping his seatbelt before he opened the car door and slipped out silently. Stopping for a moment, his hand resting on the cool metal of his door as he tilted his head back and stared at the bright orange sky above him, closing his eyes briefly as the warm breeze hit him, causing some of the tension to ease out of his shoulders.

He slammed the door shut, turning round, unsurprised to see Steve watching him carefully for a moment before he closed his own door, locking it and throwing the keys to Danny over the roof before he turned and headed towards the front door.

Danny glanced down the driveway for a moment before he turned and followed Steve up the steps leading to his front door. It wasn't as though he had any other plans. He closed the door behind him, taking off his gun and badge and leaving them on the table in the living room before he moved through the house drawn to the beach. He ignored Steve as the other man opened the fridge and stepped back into the warm breeze.

He kicked off his shoes, reaching down and taking his socks off before he stepped off the porch onto the warm sand and headed over to the two deck chairs set up, untucking his shirt as he did wishing for the first time that he had something to change into. He should really keep some clothes at Steve's. God knew he stayed there enough and it would save him time if he didn't have to keep going home every time he crashed on the sofa.

He jumped when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, glancing over it to see Steve watching him. Steve opened his mouth as though he was going to say something but closed it with a slight shake of his head, instead holding out an open beer to Danny. Danny's eyes dropped from his partner's gaze to the bottle for a moment before he reached out and took it from him, lifting it and taking a long sip from it.

"Still want steak?" Steve asked breaking the silence between them. Danny shook his head.

"Not yet" he answered, lowering his body into the chair. Steve nodded and took the other chair. They sat in silence for a moment before Danny spoke

"It was great at the beginning" he said thoughtfully, staring out at the ocean. "You know between me and Rachel. We argued but not a great deal. You wouldn't think it but we had a lot in common and the sex-"his voice trailed off and he shrugged "I know it's hard to believe but we were really happy at the beginning."

"What happened then?" Steve asked his gaze fixed on Danny.

"I told you" he replied "She woke up one day and realised that she had married a cop and that she wasn't happy. She didn't want to be married to a cop, she wanted to be married to someone who had a safe job, someone who didn't end up in hospital, injured. She wanted the nightmares to stop. You know she asked me to quit and I considered it for maybe a second before I said no. We had a massive row that night, first night I slept on the sofa, not the last time though."

"What did she expect?" Steve demanded, an undercurrent of anger to his voice. "She knew what she was getting into when she married you" Danny shook his head, pointing his bottle at Steve a slight bitter note coming to his voice as his stomach churned.

"That's the point babe, she didn't know what she was getting into. She only thought she did and when she realised it wasn't glamorous or anything like she had seen on TV she took Grace and left, then she met Stan and the rest is history isn't it."

"You deserve better than her man" Steve said, Danny snorted.

"Do I? Hell you said it yourself, I still don't know how I managed to get someone like her to even give me the time of day let alone marry me. She was well out of my league, probably still is if I'm being honest with myself."

"Did you ever think that maybe just maybe it's the other way round Danno, that maybe you're out of her league and she was the one lucky to have you?"

"Steve-"

"Look Danny, I'm no expert on relationships but I'm not blind. You're a good catch, you're a great cop, you're good looking, you're smart, you've got a great smile, you're amusing-" Steve sighed "You've got to stop selling yourself short man and start seeing what everyone else sees when they look at you."

"Nice, glad you got the short joke in there buddy" Danny commented sounding amused for a moment.

"Of course" Steve said "Look all I'm saying Danny, is that there are people out there who see you, who see every part of your life and who would still be glad to have you as their other half. Some of us wouldn't be stupid enough to let you go just because they got slightly scared about how they felt about you."

Danny frowned slightly, looking towards Steve who ignored him, merely staring at the ocean.

"Yeah" Danny said slowly "Maybe these people should show it" he commented watching the slight smile which came to Steve's face.

"Maybe they will Danny" he said. "I'm getting the grill ready, I'm starving" he stated pushing himself to his feet and headed back towards the house. Danny closed his eyes for a moment, a smile coming to his face before he got to his feet and followed Steve.

Perhaps he could make some new memories.