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Steve, it could be said, was a person who couldn't leave well enough alone. Danny liked to call it a fault, but Steve couldn't really help it - he saw a problem, he took care of it. Simple as that.Finding a very tiny baby in a dumpster while walking in downtown Honolulu was not a problem he'd ever seen himself dealing with, in all honesty.He stares down at the little baby, its dirty blanket unraveled around it as it wails and wriggles about, and can't quite believe his eyes. Gently, so gently, he stands on his tiptoes and leans down into the dumpster to reach the baby and when he pulls it out and lays it against his chest, one hand under its bottom and the other covering its back, it quiets down. He's not sure he's ever held anything so small. He looks at its little face, its dark eyes peering up at him, and doesn't understand how anyone could abandon such a precious creature in a dumpster.He decides the hospital is his best bet. He stands by the passenger door of his truck for a good minute before coming to the conclusion that the best course of action is to push the passenger seat all the way back and use one of the blankets in his toolbox to make a makeshift sling to secure the baby to the seat.It fusses as he separates it from his chest to rest it in the seat for a minute, but settles once he secures it in the blanket sling. He drives to the hospital one mile under the speed limit and parks in the closest parking spot to the emergency bay doors. The nurse that greets Steve when he walks in recognizes him from his many emergency trips to the hospital and watches him warily as he strides up to her."Hi." Steve says to the nurse, and she greets him politely but is obviously still assessing whether or not he's injured and is also eyeing the bundle held against his chest suspiciously."I found, uh..." he starts and untucks the blanket from the baby's head, "I found it in a dumpster behind Lou's Diner. I don't know whose it is, I...so I brought it here."The nurse's face softens and she huffs a laugh.
"Only you, Commander McGarrett, would suffer such a cliché life as to find a baby in a dumpster." She nods towards the waiting room next to the ER. "Go take a seat, Commander. I'll send someone over to check on the baby's health."As Steve settles into the chair by the window he'd picked, he lays the baby into the crook of his elbow to free up a hand that he uses to ever so softly touch its face. He's absolutely captivated by its soft cheeks and tiny nose and he sucks in a breath when the baby reaches its hand up to grasp at his fingers. It gurgles at him, and Steve knows he's in love. He waits for maybe ten minutes like this, completely focused on committing every little detail of the baby's face to memory, and before he's greeted by an older man in a white coat.
"Commander McGarrett?" he asks, holding a hand out that Steve shakes as he nods in affirmation.
"I'm Doctor Kapule. I'm the head pediatrician here. Let's go on upstairs to check up on the little angel."They ride the elevator up and Steve speaks amiably with the doctor until they move into an examination room, but his eyes never leave the baby. He lays the baby down carefully on the examination table when prompted and watches like a hawk as Doctor Kapule examines it. They find out it's a girl when the doctor changes her diaper, and that she's healthy, surprisingly, with a weight of 10.1 pounds and good reflexes for her age, but the doctor says he still wants to run blood tests to check for immunizations and Steve wholeheartedly agrees. When the doctor moves to pick her up, however, Steve is caught making an aborted motion to stop him. The doctor laughs good-naturedly and hands the little girl back to Steve."We'll put her in the pediatric ward for now until we can try and find some family. You can carry her up there, Commander. We'll stop by the lab to drop her blood off."
Steve appreciates the man's willingness to accommodate his attachment to the little girl - he's got the same jittery feeling about leaving her as he does when Danny and Grace leave his house after a whole weekend of staying with him.When they reach the pediatric ward, Steve reluctantly hands her off to a nurse and watches her until she disappears behind a door."Commander?"
He turns to see the doctor smiling at him knowingly.
"You can always come back and visit her until her family is found.""And if they aren't?" Steve asks, a sudden thrum of both hope and panic pulsing through his veins."Well, we give it about three weeks and when no one comes to claim the child, Child Services will take her and put her in the Foster System."Steve's quiet for a moment as he subconsciously glances back at the door the baby had gone through, before he speaks again.
"Who do I talk to about adoption?"
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Danny eyes Steve from across the office, turning absently back and forth in his chair as he does. Steve has one hand on his head and the other is turning pages in a book every now and then. Danny can't see what the book is, but it seems to be stressing Steve out a bit because Steve runs his hand over his head and replaces it on his forehead, mouthing something Danny can't make out as he picks a pen up, writes something in the book with the hand not on his head, and then continues on again.Danny stands, prepared to inquire about Steve's reclusive behavior the past few days, as well as about the Stress Book and its presumed relationship to Steve's weird behavior when Steve gets a call. He puts the book away and his face changes into Go Time Face and he emerges out of his office to call for the three of them.The Book is forgotten. Steve's rising number of absences at team drink nights is not, however, and it also doesn't go unnoticed when he declines Danny's invitation to spend a weekend with him and Grace. Steve never passes a chance to see Grace, so Danny's starting to get a bit worried. Grace is disappointed, of course, but Danny decides to let it go for a bit. He doesn't forget it, but he lets it go.Instead, he watches Steve come into the office just barely on time and leave the office like a bat out of hell every day for two and a half weeks. Danny wants to know what's got him in such a hurry, but Steve hasn't even off-handedly mentioned some secret meeting to snag Danny's interest and get him to ask Steve about his mysterious life, so Danny's lost. Steve's been more stressed than glowing, so it can't be a woman either - God, Danny hopes it's not a woman - and it's not his sister, because Danny's confident he'd know if it was Mary. What else would it be?Finally, Danny gets fed up with trying to figure it out. It's 5-0's Friday off (barring an emergency case) and Steve won't even answer the phone for Danny to ask about him coming with Danny and Grace to the movies. So Danny spends the day with his daughter alone and, after kissing Grace goodbye on Rachel's porch, drives to Steve's that night with a case of beer and a strong determination to get out of Steve what's wrong.Danny walks into the house like he owns the place, as usual, and puts the case of beer in the fridge. Weirdly, there's no beer already in the fridge, so he guesses he's going into the conversation without any liquid courage for either of them after all, but that's fine. He figures Steve is out back swimming since he hasn't barged in to bug Danny about "breaking in," so Danny gets comfortable, takes off his shoes and socks and undoes a few buttons on his shirt, and ambles towards the back door. When he does peek outside, however, the porch lights aren't on and the only sound that can be heard is the gentle lap of the waves against the sand.Frowning, Danny heads upstairs since downstairs is as lifeless as out back and finds light pouring out of the door next to Steve's (and across from Grace's, and shouldn't that say something about their relationship that Danny's daughter has A Room at Steve's house?).He's about to say something when he rounds the door frame, something to open conversation and hopefully lead Steve into confessing all his woes, but finds Steve in the floor, surrounded by pieces of wood with tools in hand. Danny sees the diagram of a crib sitting next to Steve, looks up around the room and finds that it is, indeed, decorated as a nursery - seafoam green walls, a changing table and curtains with sailboats floating across the bottoms of both, a rocking armchair adorned in a well-loved sea-themed quilt, and a tasteful creme rug under Steve and the crib pieces.When Danny focuses on Steve again, Steve is looking at him pleadingly from the floor. Danny's not sure what he wants from him, if it's help or secrecy or what, but Danny decides to navigate the unassembled mess to sit next to him anyway. After a few moments of silence, Danny sighs and leans back on his hands."What's this about?" he asks calmly, completely hiding the inner panic building inside himself.Did Steve get someone pregnant? Why else would he be building a crib in a room clearly meant to be a nursery?
Danny can deal with this, sure, kids are great; what he can't deal with is the knowledge that Steve is a man who will most likely try and make it work with the mother and Danny really thought-
Well."Her name is Leilani." Steve finally says and Danny's heart breaks because of course there's a her. He's preparing himself to say comforting words without his own voice breaking but-
"They let me name her. There's an inspector coming tomorrow and the crib is the final part of the room. It came in today, I ordered it special with mermaids on it from a carpenter I know. Got shipped in pieces to keep the woodwork safe."Danny wants to laugh with relief when he finally puts together what Steve's vague words mean.
"You're adopting?""Yeah, she's three months now, they think."Danny's relief is washed away by suddenly more pressing matters.
"Why, uh...why didn't you tell us? Tell me?" He tries to keep the hurt out of his voice, he does, but Steve's flinch says he doesn't."I wasn't even sure I would get the chance to have her, Danno. For a while, they hoped the family would pick her up but...nothing. No relatives in the database, either - that wanted her, anyway."
Steve looks up at Danny again, earnestly.
"I couldn't leave her, Danno. You'll see. I picked her up, I looked in her eyes, and I was a goner. The nurses in the pediatric ward like me."
He adds the last part like he's writing a resume. Danny wants to laugh again."Ward? Like hospital ward?"
Steve nods, like it makes all the sense in the world.
"Steve," Danny's a little afraid to ask but here goes, "how did you get here? How did you end up with a three-month-old?""I found her in the dumpster a few weeks back. Took her in, saw to it she got attention and then I just...couldn't leave her to the Foster System."Danny gets it, of course. He's got a kid of his own and he's hard-pressed to leave her in her own mother's care. It's just... strange. With the way their relationship has been heading lately, Danny has obviously considered how good Steve is with Grace, but he's never imagined Steve as a father."Hey, Danny?"
He meets Steve's eyes and their faces are close. Steve doesn't continue right away, just looks into Danny's eyes like he's seeing Danny's soul. They're quiet for a few minutes, sitting close and nearly breathing each other's air until Steve leans forward and rests his forehead on Danny's shoulder. Danny doesn't hesitate to begin running his hand through Steve's hair soothingly."I'm adopting a baby, Danny." Steve declares, and this time Danny does laugh."You sure are."He's quiet again for a few moments. "What am I going to do?""Well," Danny starts, nudging a piece of the crib with his foot, "we're gonna finish this crib and head to bed for tonight. In the morning, we're gonna greet the inspector, pass the test with flying colors, and then I'll get to meet the baby that has you so wrapped around her little finger."When he looks up from the crib pieces, Steve's got an odd look to his face.
"What?""Nothing, Danny, just..." He stops and grins like he can't hold it down.
"Just, uh, we?"Danny freezes, not sure how to get himself out of the mortifying situation, but Steve just leans his head back down onto Danny's shoulder.
"I like 'we,' Danno."They don't talk for the rest of the night except to ask for parts of the crib and when Danny turns to head back downstairs to sleep, Steve catches his arm. He nods towards his own bedroom and barely tugs on Danny. Danny goes quietly, heart racing as he accepts the change of too-long pants and worn t-shirt, and eventually gets into bed with Steve. They fall asleep holding hands across the bed and wake up tangled together. Steve's face is soft in sleep and Danny adores the way his eyes blink open blearily when Danny runs his knuckles over Steve's cheek."You're still here." he whispers, and Danny hums the affirmative as he shifts closer to rest their foreheads together."About that plan from last night." Steve says, his thumb running slowly over the skin between Danny's waistband and where his shirt rode up, "Wanna meet Leilani first?"Danny grins.
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Leilani is the most precious thing Danny has ever seen, sharing top spot with Grace, and he can't take his eyes off of her cuddled up to Steve's chest. She's got dark hair and dark eyes and honeyed skin and Danny falls in love with her the moment she grins her gummy smile at Steve and gurgles happily. Danny falls deeper in love with Steve when Steve coos at Leilani and gently wiggles the finger she's latched onto. (There, he said it, he's in love with Steve.) Steve sways slightly as he walks over to Danny with her and when he looks up at Danny, the smile on his face is blinding."She gorgeous." Danny rasps. Leilani turns to peer at Danny with her curious little eyes when Steve gets close enough for her to notice Danny and Danny melts when she jerkily flails her free hand out at him and squeals; when he holds a hand out to Leilani, they both watch in adoration as she grips his pinky as tight as she can and flails some more."Wanna hold her?" Steve asks and Danny doesn't hesitate to take her. They sit down in chairs available in the visitation room and Danny's still having a hard time breathing. It's been years since he's held a baby so small. She feels so fragile in his arms, his whole hand covering her bottom where he's tucked her into his elbow, and he'd forgotten how much he loves children.
He turns to tell Steve how beautiful she is again and catches Steve hastily putting his phone away. He pretends he didn't see because he knows he'll find out sooner or later anyway and instead tells Steve, "I love her."After they've spent a good two hours at the hospital and Steve's gotten a chance to feed and burp and change Leilani, they head back to Steve's to meet the inspector. She's an older woman with bright eyes and a brighter smile and she greets Danny with a firm handshake when he answers the door to her. He has to correct her when she assumes he's Steve and quickly calls for said man to help remedy the confusion on her face."Sorry, ma'am. I was upstairs making finishing touches to the nursery. My name is Steve McGarrett." Steve says upon arrival, all suave charm and politeness as he shakes Marie the Inspector's hand. Then he sets a hand just too low on Danny's back to be friendly and says, "And this is my partner, Danny Williams."Danny watches as the woman pieces things together and is about to correct her - he doesn't know if having a partner when you've applied for single-parent adoption is okay, Steve should really pay attention to these things - but Marie just smiles and introduces herself to Steve. Steve gives her a tour of the house, lets her snoop through a lot more things than Danny would've thought Steve would be okay with, and when they reach the nursery, Danny can tell that she's just as awed by it as Danny was (after he'd gotten over his panic). After having toured the whole house and inspected all of his baby equipment, Marie speaks with Steve in private for a few moments and then heads to the front door."Mr. McGarrett, you are one of the most prepared people I've ever met.-" Danny snorts from his place at Steve's side. "-You should have no doubts, I will leave a glowing report about you. Your adoption of Leilani should be approved by Wednesday. Congratulations, gentlemen."When the door is shut behind her, Steve wraps Danny in a tight, tight hug.
"We're having a baby, Danny." he whispers, like he just can't quite believe it, and Danny loves the sound of 'we.'
~
Grace, of course, loves Leilani. She's so excited to have a baby sister - and wow had that declaration lit Steve's face on fire - that she can dress up and spoil. They teach her how to hold the baby when Leilani comes home and Danny is so happy to be able to physically see Grace fall in love with Leilani just like he had."If Leilani's my sister, that means Uncle Steve's Dad Steve now, right?" Grace asks out of the blue that night when they're having dinner and Leilani is sleeping upstairs. Danny's not sure how Grace had come to the conclusion earlier that Leilani was even her sister, but this has him and Steve choking on their food as they look to each other for help. What they have is new, only official for four or five days, and Danny's not sure having a baby together is good for a new relationship, but when he sees Steve waiting for his verdict and Grace laying the puppy dog eyes on heavy, he knows he's screwed."If Steven is okay with you calling him Dad, then I guess he's Dad Steve now."Steve kisses Danny's temple that night as they stand in Grace's doorway and watch her sleep and quietly says, "You practically live here already."Danny knows what he's asking and, after a glance back into the other room where Leilani sleeps as he closes Grace's door, he also knows that there's no use denying himself or Grace and Steve anything.
"I'll start the paperwork tomorrow and we'll move the stuff Saturday. Sound good?"
Steve looks like he can't contain himself, so Danny just drags him to bed.After he's gone through his nightly routine and settled down against the headboard, Danny sees Steve's phone light up on the nightstand with a text. It's just a text from Chin, but Danny's captivated with the picture on the background. He swipes the notification away and sees himself, sitting in the pediatric ward chair, holding Leilani for the first time and stroking her cheek with one finger, smiling. Danny's filled with love for Steve all over again, and when he puts the phone back down, it's with a stupid grin on his face. He easily allows himself to be pulled down into the bed when Steve climbs in next to him and wraps his arms around Danny's waist."We're a family, Danno." Steve informs him, as though they weren't already family, and Danny kisses him quietly."Yeah, we are." he replies. Leilani whimpers over the monitor before they can say anything else, but Steve readily gets up to go see her. Danny watches him go and doesn't know how he'll ever live without Steve again.They're 'we' now, partners in both senses, and Danny wouldn't give it up for the world.
'We' sounds like the start of a new beginning.
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The way Steve decides to tell Chin and Kono that he has a daughter is by walking into the office with Leilani strapped to his chest in a Tactical Baby Carrier. (Danny, though he had ribbed Steve for buying military-esque baby gear, thinks it's absolutely adorable.) Chin and Kono are, of course, notably curious about Steve showing up with a baby riding shotgun, but it takes a surprisingly long time for Chin to corner Danny in Danny's office and question him about the baby's presence while Kono presumably distracts Steve in the main room."Danny, whose kid is that?""Steve's." Danny answers easily, a smile creeping up on his face. Chin makes a face like he wants to say something but doesn't really know what."Steve's." he finally says. Danny nods, hands shoved in his pockets as he rocks back on his heels and waits for Chin to figure out what information he wants from Danny. Eventually, he must decide that Steve himself is a better information source, so Danny follows Chin back to the main room where they find Kono cooing over Leilani and Steve grinning like the love-sick father he is."So, Steve." Chin starts, but Kono cuts him off excitedly."Cuz! We've got a niece! Her name is Leilani and Steve found her in a dumpster. Isn't she precious!" Kono passes Leilani to Chin and Danny watches Chin fall in love with her immediately. He has a feeling that she's going to be a heartbreaker like Grace, but that's a heart attack for a different day."She's gorgeous, Steve. Congrats, brah." Chin tells Steve proudly when he makes to hand her back. Steve gets a call from the governor, though, so Danny easily takes Leilani instead."Hi there, angel." he greets, swaying as he wiggles his fingers for her to grab at and when he looks up at Chin and Kono, he knows he's got that same stupid look Steve had."Well," he says, tilting his head and shrugging in a what-can-you-do manner, "maybe we're co-parenting."Danny pretends not to notice when Chin hands Kono money.
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Steve quickly hires a full-time, on-call babysitter (this comes right after he somehow manages to get the governor to agree to renovate and install a playroom at headquarters). The "babysitter" is a disabled SEAL from Steve's old team. His name is Jake Robbards, he's missing a leg from his hip down, and he's fantastic with children - Grace seems especially fond of him when she meets him and Danny thinks it's because she's picked up her mother's tendency to love the helpless strays.Leilani, the peaceful baby she is, is just happy to be held and paid attention to at all hours. She does seem to get cranky when Steve's away too long, Robbards says he's noticed after a few months of working with them, and she also seems to have a sixth sense for when Steve's in danger, but that's easily remedied with a good nap while sprawled across Steve's chest on the couch at home.One day, Danny gets shot and is sentenced to two nights in the hospital for observation. Steve leaves Leilani with Robbards while he goes to visit Danny, but when he gets back, Robbards tells him that he hasn't been able to get Leilani to calm down. Steve's return doesn't seem to have helped when he finds himself close to tears at three in the morning, helpless to stop Leilani's wailing.He takes her to the hospital, sure that she's got one of those infantile complications he's been so afraid of, but the nurses say she's perfectly healthy and may have just had her sleep cycle interrupted. They recommend Steve go home and try putting her to bed, which he's already been trying to do - they've basically given him the infant version of 'have you tried turning it off and back on'. Stressed out, emotionally drained, and feeling stranded without Danny's strong, steady presence, he begs one of the nurses to let him into Danny's room ("Just for a little while, please, I won't wake him up, I promise.") She takes in what must be the most pitiful sight she's ever seen - a haggard Steve dressed in a worn t-shirt, ratty sweats, and slippahs, looking like he's about to cry as he holds a bawling six-month-old - and takes pity on him.As soon as he opens Danny's door, Leilani quiets down; she's asleep by the time Steve settles into the chair next to Danny's bed. He laughs a bit hysterically as realization strikes him, stroking a finger over her little, red, tear-streaked face, and kisses her forehead."Steve?" Danny rasps, groggy and confused, and Steve curses himself."Sorry, Danno," Steve whispers, "we just needed to see you. Didn't mean to wake you up.""We?" Danny asks, pushing himself up on his elbows to squint at Steve in the moonlight sneaking through the blinds."Yeah, uh," Steve says intelligently, and stands to sit carefully on the edge of Danny's bed, "you know how Leilani's got that attachment to me that Robbards swears is like a sixth sense?" Danny nods, reaching out for the little girl with a sleep-weak hand. Steve settles her on his chest and Danny gratefully lays back down onto the pillows with one hand resting protectively on her back. "She's got that with you, too. Didn't stop crying until I got up here. She's been crying for hours." Steve's voice cracks, surely revealing how stressed he is, but Danny just reaches up and pulls him down. Steve obediently scoots in next to Danny on the bed and allows Danny to run his hand through Steve's hair.The nurses find them just like that the next morning, Danny and Steve's hands tangled together on Leilani's back and all three of them sleeping soundly.Steve, grateful for being let in, obediently takes Leilani home and they spend the rest of the day with Leilani tucked snuggly into her chest carrier as Steve mills about the house until visitation hours for Danny are open again.Maybe they've both got an attachment to Danny.
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Leilani's first birthday party is held on January 10th. Steve and Grace make a very small cake for Leilani that has a crown and flowers painted on a bit messily (because neither Steve nor Grace is an artist) and they all sing her happy birthday as a family after Grace adorns her with a hand-made lei.About ten minutes later, a knock comes and suddenly their house is full of people. Chin and Kono have their arms full of gifts, as does Catherine. Kamekona brings her the tiniest shrimp truck t-shirt ("Custom made, bruddah."), Max has excitedly brought her what looks like a homemade stuffed toy shaped like the stereotypical Dead Body Chalk Outline, Robbards brings her a blanket with the SEAL logo on it and her name hand-embroidered on the corner, and Stan and Rachel hand Danny a glittery birthday card full of extremely useful gift cards.When Danny turns around from thanking Rachel and Stan, he sees Steve sitting in the living room floor with Leilani, Chin, Kono, and Catherine as Steve opens all of their gifts. Leilani is sat happily in Steve's lap and seems to be thoroughly enjoying tossing the paper in the air and tearing it into tiny pieces.Kono and Catherine brought them loads of clothing. Kono brought all kinds of clothes for Leilani's current size and a few sizes up, but Catherine brought clothes for the next few years. Danny, of course, is ecstatic about not having to spend a ton of money on clothes even though he knows Steve can afford it, and graciously thanks them. Chin brought them toys galore (and Danny suspects he just bought everything off a list of 'first birthday ideas'), as well as a few homemade accessories that his mother made for her adoptive grandbaby. Leilani yanks one of the booties off immediately and throws it at Chin with a big smile.She then shocks everyone, including her fathers, when she decides to shimmy out of Steve's lap, use his knee to stand up, and toddle over to Danny on her own."Danno!" she squeals, the other bootie clutched proudly in her chubby little fist to show Danny, and both Steve and Danny gasp.Steve recovers first and announces to the room at large, absolutely elated, "Those were her first steps by herself and that was her first real word!"Danny cuddles Leilani to his chest and smothers her face in kisses, the way that makes her squeal with laughter.Rachel, from beside Danny, leans over and wryly says, "Looks like you got the first word for this one, too."(Danny knew she was still bitter about that.)Eventually, the party dies down and just Chin and Kono are left with them. Grace asks if she can help make dinner, which Steve readily agrees to, and the two of them leave Danny with Chin and Kono."You guys are doing great." Chin tells Danny, a rare, giant smile on his face as Leilani clings to Chin's pant leg with one little fist and balances herself to stand up. She lets go of his pants cautiously and manages a few steps by herself before she latches onto Kono's pants. Kono scoops her up onto the couch and blows raspberries on her cheeks to make her screech happily."Yeah, Danny. She's adorable."Danny takes a swig of his beer instead of responding to prevent himself from getting choked up.
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They should have known. She was too easy of a baby to not give them issues.The terrible twos have arrived and Danny can tell Steve wants to pull his hair out. Danny, having dealt with a child before, is able to be more patient with her, but Steve - well. Danny suspects that he's mostly having issues with the 'NO!' thing, especially since she had been experiencing mild separation anxiety just six months or so before. Leilani, Danny can already see, is going to be a very independent girl who will make her fathers proud someday when she inevitably kicks someone's ass. He can see this because, as he looks on at a sweet-potato-covered Steve and a scowling Leilani who grips her projectile weapon, even a two-year-old Leilani doesn't take shit from anyone.Steve wisely stands up and goes to the bathroom to clean himself without a word. Danny takes his place sitting in front of Leilani."Hi, angel."She grins at him and chirps his name and Danny knows she thinks what she's done is okay."Why did you throw food at Daddy?" he asks, and her face drops right back down into a pout."Don't want it.""Doesn't taste good?""Don't want it!" she says, louder and more forcefully, and Danny eyes the spoon she's got warily but refuses to show weakness."Hey, don't yell at me, young lady." Danny warns, "I'll make you eat brussel sprouts."Her face twists up, probably preparing crocodile tears, so he rolls his eyes and picks her up out of her highchair and plops her down beside the sink."Listen, little miss." Danny starts, running a rag under warm water after he takes her weapon from her and sets it in the sink. He begins wiping at her face and hair to gently clean most of the mess from her little wavy locks."You have to tell Daddy and Danno why you don't like stuff. And throwing things is a big no-no, you got that?""No." Leilani tells him sternly."You wanna sit in the corner?" Danny calmly asks her and amusedly watches her entire demeanor change. Leilani is just as energetic and active as Steve, so making her sit in the corner is probably a lot like chopping her hand off - torturous. She shakes her head vigorously, her beautiful eyes wide and terrified, and Danny takes mercy on her when he's finally done cleaning her face."You gonna say sorry to Daddy?" She nods quickly."Mm, and what are you gonna say sorry for?""Throwed 'tatoes.""That's right." Danny confirms proudly and carries her to the bottom of the stairs. He follows her as she makes her way up the stairs by herself and then quickens his steps just a bit to keep up with her when she starts running down the hall calling for Steve.Steve opens the bathroom door in their bedroom to see Leilani reaching up for him. He picks her up easily, almost reflexively, and sets her on his hip."Sorry Daddy. Throwed 'tatoes."When Steve melts, kisses her forehead, and tells her it's okay, Danny knows that he's going to have to be the disciplinary in the house since Steve obviously can't.
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When Steve calls Leilani's first day of preschool an 'op,' Danny has to sit him down and give him a stern talking to."Steven," he starts, Steve sitting on the couch and Danny pacing in front of him with arms waving, "you cannot think of everything as an 'op,' do you get that? She's going to preschool, not Afghanistan. She's going to have crayons in her bag, not grenades. She's going to wear pigtails, not a helmet. We're going to wake up, dress her in her uniform, and drop her off in the safe hands of the lovely caretakers at the preschool. Then we are going to go to work and solve a case and not wrongfully use government equipment to hack into the cameras at the preschool and monitor our daughter. Are we clear or do I need to go over it again?"Steve sighs and leans forward to wrap his arms around Danny's waist and rest his face in Danny's stomach when Danny stops pacing. Danny sighs, too, and threads his fingers through Steve's hair."I'm just worried, Danny." Steve eventually mumbles into Danny's shirt."I know you are," Danny assures him, "but someday you're gonna have to let her go. It's just her first day of preschool, not her wedding day. It'll be okay."Steve nods."It'll be okay." he repeats back to Danny.And it is okay. They chase criminals all day, Steve gets to throw a smoke grenade, and no one but the bad guys get hurt. When they pick Leilani up that afternoon, Steve drops into a squat to catch their daughter when she barrels towards them. He springs up when she's safely enveloped in his arms and spins around, smothering her face in loud, wet kisses. (The caretakers at the school look enamored with Steve's energetic, fatherly love and so what if Danny makes sure to make eye contact with one or two of them when he slips an arm around Steve's waist and lets Leilani kiss him on the cheek as well.)All Leilani can talk about until bedtime that night is school and all her new friends and how excited she is to go back. Steve seems to breathe easier the next morning when they drop her off again.
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Grace and Leilani are thick as thieves, even being nine or so years apart, and Danny knows something's up when Grace begins constantly taking Leilani out 'to do fun things.' Danny doesn't know what they do when they're out, but he does know that the girls spend hours conspiring in Grace's room after they come back and that Leilani has more than once been seen squirreling away printer paper and glue.Danny and Steve are sitting out on the lanai sunbathing one late afternoon in July, each with a cold beer in one hand and the other's fingers threaded through their free hand, when they hear someone clear their throat. Eight-year-old Leilani and seventeen-year-old Grace stand in front of them, perfectly innocent smiles betraying their ulterior motives. Grace has done Leilani's hair up in pigtails and they're both wearing adorable sundresses (Danny has no doubt that she knows it'll pander to Danny and Steve's emotional sides), and Leilani is holding a big binder full of paper that almost looks too big for her arms."Yes, ladies?" Danny asks suspiciously as Steve sits up and takes a swig of his beer.Grace nods to Leilani when Leilani looks up at her, so Leilani turns to them and confidently says, "We want to be adopted.""Uh." Steve says intelligently.Leilani, of course, has known since she was six that she was adopted, but has on numerous occasions assured Danny and Steve that they're her fathers. Neither of them are sure what to make of such a sentence, so Danny eventually asks, just as intelligently, "What?""We want you to adopt us." Grace repeats, as though this clears up everything. She rolls her eyes when they continue to look at the two girls stupidly and she and Leilani take it upon themselves to squeeze onto the chairs beside their fathers so that Grace and Steve are squished tightly together and Danny and Leilani are comfortably chest to back. Leilani props the binder open on her crossed legs in Danny's lap and the first page says "Danno and Pops' Daddy's Wedding" with Pops scratched out and Daddy written in Leilani's handwriting just above it.Steve chokes on his next swig of beer when he sees it."We want you to get married. Pops will adopt me and Danno will adopt Lei." Grace tells them matter-of-factly, ignoring Steve's head on her shoulder while he'strying to quell his coughing fit."And anyway, we know Pops has had a ring for two years and we were getting tired of waiting.""We want to wear the dresses, Danno!" Leilani chimes in, stabbing a finger at a picture of a little sky-blue dress that she'd flipped to in the binder.Danny stares at Steve's panicked expression and doesn't even try to hold back the laughter that seizes his body at the absurdity of it all."Okay-" he tries a few minutes later, but has to take a moment to breathe before he can continue. "Okay, girls, why don't you, uh, go back inside and let Danno and Steve talk."They go, a bit reluctantly, and Leilani scampers back out to thrust the binder at Danny before running back in to Grace. Danny carefully sets the book on the ground beside him and turns to face a beet-red Steve."For the record," Danny says when it's evident that Steve won't be starting the conversation, "I've also known about the ring for a while. Just figured you were working up to it. Didn't really expect the girls to - Steve? You okay, babe?"Steve looks like he's not really breathing and won't meet Danny's eyes."Sorry." is all he says and Danny's on Steve's chair with him in a split second, holding his face to force him to look at Danny."I don't know what you're apologizing for, but you have nothing to be sorry for, Steven. If it's for waiting, I get it. Marriage is scary. If it's for wanting to ask, I'm going to have to tell you that there's nothing I want more."Steve finally meets his eyes and holds his gaze, looking like a broken, hopeful soul."I love you, you baffoon.""Hey Danny? Will you marry me?" Steve asks with a grin, and all Danny can do is laugh joyfully."So can the dresses be blue?" Grace asks from the door and Steve springs up to chase the two girls.He snags Grace by the waist easily - she's fast, but not as fast as Steve - and keeps her in a vice grips as he tickles her until she screeches for mercy. Leilani's his next target, and Danny watches fondly as Grace and Steve circle each other while Leilani giggles from behind Grace's protective bodily shield. Steve darts forward, throws Grace over his shoulder, and grabs Leilani too.Danny watches them scream and Steve laugh and can't imagine being anywhere else.