Chapter Text
Danny looked up from the paperwork littering his desk to see Steve hovering over him.
"What's up?" he asked, and when Kono, overhearing him, snorted with laughter, he balled up a piece of paper and threw it at her head. "Get your mind out of the gutter. Both of you," he added, warningly, seeing a smirk on Steve's face.
"I still want to try dinner and a walk on the beach," Steve told him, perching his hip on the edge of Danny's desk. "Without being shot at, or chased by man-eating tigers-"
"Mittens was hardly a man-eater," Danny reminded him. "But, yeah, I think it's a good idea. Where do you want to go for dinner?"
"How does Italian sound?" Steve asked, and they made plans to meet at a small place just down the street. And as Danny watched Steve walk back to his office, he couldn't keep a smile off his face. It looked like they were finally going to get their nice date, after all.
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Danny carefully adjusted the knot in his tie, and from behind him, he heard Grace heave an exasperated sigh. Turning around, he met his daughter's impatient gaze as she looked him over.
"What?" he asked, and Grace rolled her eyes, like she couldn't believe that he didn't already know.
"That's what you're wearing on your date with Uncle Steve?" she asked, and Danny automatically looked down at himself. Nice shirt, sharply-pressed slacks, good tie –
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" he demanded, unable to see what had his daughter so mortally offended.
"Ties are for work, Danno," Grace informed him, matter-of-factly. "You don't wear a tie on a date."
"There's nothing wrong with wearing a tie on a date," Danny said, defensively, but Grace looked positively horrified.
"You don't wear the same clothes on a date that Uncle Steve saw you wearing at work," she insisted.
"So, lose the tie?" Danny asked, getting an emphatic nod in return.
"Lose the tie," Grace echoed. "And wear that dark gray shirt," she added, nodding at his closet. "That one's new, right?"
"Yeah, it's new," Danny confirmed.
Stepping inside his closet, he shed the blue shirt he currently had on and traded it for the gray one that Grace had indicated. She nodded her approval as he stepped out of the closet.
"Much better," she told him, happily. "Danno," she added, a note of hesitation in her voice, "you can drop me off at Leilani's house, before you go on your date."
Danny grinned at Grace, reaching out and pulling her into a hug. "If you think that I am giving up even a second with you," he told her, "especially a night we hadn't planned on-"
"You don't mind me coming to dinner with you and Uncle Steve?" Grace pressed, quietly.
"Steve insisted I bring you," Danny reassured her, "as soon as I told him that you were spending the weekend with me. I think he's got a special surprise lined up for you," he confided in Grace, who broke into a smile. "You ready to go?" he asked, and Grace nodded, eagerly.
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They were driving toward the restaurant when the car in front of them suddenly started fishtailing. Danny hit the brakes and yanked the wheel to the side to swerve out of the way of the car, pinning Grace to the seat with his arm to keep her from moving. The Camaro bumped onto the side of the road before coming to a stop, and Danny breathed a sigh of relief when he looked over and saw that Grace was shaken, but okay.
"You all right, Monkey?" he asked, getting a quick nod in return.
"Danno, the other car," Grace said, urgently, and Danny looked out the windshield to see that the other car had slammed into a telephone pole, the front of the hood completely crumpled in at the point of impact.
"Stay here," Danny ordered, as he pulled his cell phone out and got out of the car. "Stay inside the car."
Grace nodded, murmuring a quiet assent as she hunkered down on the floor between the seat and the dashboard, her eyes barely peeking above the passenger window. Danny jogged across the street to the other car, pulling the driver's side door open and feeling for a pulse at the neck of the unconscious driver. He dialed nine-one-one, listening to the phone ring before an operator picked up.
"This is Detective Danny Williams," he said, without preamble. "I'm on Maunakea Street, and at the site of a one-car accident. Going to need an ambulance out here; one victim, the driver-"
He broke off at the sound of a groan from the man in the driver's seat, tucking the phone between his ear and his shoulder to better support the man as he shifted in his seat.
"Hey, buddy, take it easy," he said, soothingly. "You crashed your car, but you're going to be okay."
"Detective Williams" the man mumbled, his head lolling to the side as he tried to focus on Danny.
"Do I know you?" Danny asked, and the man opened his eyes, a strange smile coming over his face.
"No," he said, slowly, "but I know you."
Then, his eyes flickered to something over Danny's shoulder, and Danny instinctively turned to look. He caught a flash of something coming at his face, and he belatedly lifted an arm in automatic defense, but he didn't move fast enough. A heavy weight crashed into the side of his head, and the world went dark…