So protective   von WeißeWölfinLarka
                           (A Hawaii Five-O Fanfic)
================================================================================
                                    quartus
                                    -------


What kind of noise did awaken him, Steve didn’t really know. He felt a
throbbing pain in his head. As he shifted from his sofa, some empty bottles of
beer clinked. He ran his hand over his face. Now he remembered that he tried to
drown his unexpected loneliness with some light alcohol. Usually it was Danny
who drew to a close after a hard workday with him together, but not yesterday.
Yesterday, Steve was all alone with his very own ghosts and nightmares.
  Yet again, his mobile rang with the theme tone of Arielle the Mermaid. Steve
was astonished. This was little Gracie’s ringtone. Only a few weeks ago she
got an own mobile phone from Step-Stan, for emergency causes only, as Danny
stated firmly and told her not to misuse this new ‘toy of the devil’.
Nevertheless Steve and Grace exchanged numbers –for emergencies only, of
course. So that was why Steve was afraid to hear the reason why the little girl
would call him.
  “Yeah Gracie, what’s up, little darling?”
  “Uncle Steve!”
  Steve heard her sobbing within a pause, caused to heavy breathing.
  “Come on, honey, tell me what’s wrong? Shall I fetch you?”
  “No, it’s… I…”
  “Is something with Danno?”
  That was the very first idea his mind could come up with. It was not usual for
Grace to call him just for nothing and he had never heard or seen her cry. That
was something Danny was able to manage. The blonde former cop kept grief and
sorrow from his little girl and it happened that he could always make her
smile.
  “Uncle Steve, don’t be mad, I’m at your door. Your doorbell is broken.
Please… please open!”
  Steve, already on his way, frowned in sorrow, as he opened his door. He
immediately bended down and hugged Grace firmly. 
  “Danno wasn’t at home tonight… I’m sorry, Uncle Steve, I didn’t know
what to do. I was searching for him. I tried to call you and then I was already
here”, she cried.
  “It’s alright, Monkey, it’s alright”, he tried to calm her.
  The Super-Seal was alarmed at once. Danny would never let Grace alone at home.
Or at least he would call someone to look after her. That was so unusual that
Steve wondered if he really knew his partner as well as he thought he did.
  “Did you try to call him?”
  “Yes. But it was only the mailbox answering.”
  “Okay. Come on in. You didn’t had breakfast, did you? What about pancakes
with blueberries?” 
  She gave him a shy nod. He wasn’t very good with kids but Danny in his
fathering way taught him well. He learned from his manners. And for the moment
he was the only one Grace had.
  “Okay, pancakes it is, then.”
  He shoved her into the kitchen. As he sat her on a bar stool and prepared some
waffles, too, he mused over this situation. Yesterday Danny acted very awkward
and rude, something which was nothing of his kind. The only hint Steve got was
“Rachel”.
  “So, sweetie pie, is there something wrong with your Mum and Danno? Did they
argue?”
  “I don’t know. Only thing is that Mum called Danno two days ago and got
very mad at him, I didn’t get what she was saying, but… she swore a lot and
yelled at him. And then Danno came to pick me up and I stayed with him until
today.”
  “It’s gonna be alright, hun, don’t worry. Probably it’s some kind of
adult thingy; they’ll make it up for sure.”
  Although he was assuring Gracie and giving her comfort, he wasn’t sure
himself if that’d happen. He needed to call Daniel fucking Williams ASAP.
  “Would you mind lending me your mobile? I’ll try to ring Danno up.”
  “Sure.”
  She handed it over, wondering why he didn’t call her daddy with his own. In
fact, Steve assumed that Danny would pick up his phone easier when he saw his
daughter calling, although her former trials were unsuccessful. Steve listened
to the dial tone several times until he finally got to hear Danny’s voice. 
  “Hey, monkey – I’m sorry, that’s not the time now…”
  “How dare you to left your daughter alone? Gone all AWOL the whole day and
night?”, 
  Steve heard him gasping slightly, also nearly heard him freeze, and his yet
low voice got a tone quieter once more, like a whisper, as he retorted: “As
much as I’d love argue about how advantageous your army-“
  “NAVY!”, Steve automatically snapped in, but Danny skipped that
nonchalantly and continued:
  “-slang is, I do not have time to talk to you.”
  Suddenly, his voice hitched, there were shouts and Danny cussed inwardly. 
  “Hey Danny, what’s going on?” 
  “Hush!”, was the only reply, there were creaking and scratching sounds and
Steve concentrated all of his hearing for the fragmentary activity wherever
Danny was. He was about to ask where this was going to lead them, when all of a
sudden a loud gunshot burst his ears.
  “Danno?!”
  The line was still connected, but Danny didn’t answer. In his place, he
could hear an unknown man’s gruff voice, still a bit quiet from the distance
to the speaker, he guessed.
  “What do we have here? Is that your daughter? That’s a beautiful picture,
really. Maybe I should talk to her… Perhaps she might want to help his daddy
out of this shit?”
  The voice got louder and Steves gaze wandered to Gracie, who still sat in the
kitchen, eating some pancakes like a starving man. 
  “Hello darling, your daddy cannot talk right now. But he’s gonna tell us
where we can come for you, you just gonna wait.”
  
 
 ___________________________________________________________________________
 
  •	ASAP für as soon as possible, also eigentlich jetzt sofort. Ausgesprochen
ay-sap.
  •	AWOL für absent without official leave, unentschuldigtes Fehlen oder wenn
jemand oder etwas vermisst wird. Ausgesprochen a-wall.

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