Chapter Text
Danny Williams was walking down the street in sunny Honolulu, while his mother was trying to talk his ear off on the phone. “Mom, we talked about this, lots of couples live together, it’s not scandalous."
His mother speech continued, “It doesn’t bother me that you’re moving in with Brian. It bothers me that you’re only moving in with Brian. And over Christmas…. it’s the one time of the year we get to see you.”
“And there we are,” Danny replied, looking over at Kono Kalakaua, his partner at the Honolulu Police Department, walking next to him.
“If it’s so serious with this Brian, why aren’t you bringing him home?”
“Mom…. you know how crazy our work lives are. We are spending the vacation time unpacking and getting settled at the new place. And that doesn’t leave a lot of time to fly across the country to visit you and dad in New Jersey.”
“Well, I wouldn't want Christmas with the family to be a burden.” Danny could hear the sarcasm dripping through the phone line.
“Mom, I’m trying, but I can’t do everything.”
——
Danny finally hung up and stuffed his phone into his pocket, fumbling a little with the badge on his belt. Kono bumps his shoulder, “What’d you expect, brah? She’s your mother.”
“Not a guilt trip in the middle of Christmas, even if it was somewhat restrained. She didn’t once ask me, when Brian and I were getting married.”
Kono grinned, “At least moving in together means you’re one step closer to marriage.”
“It shouldn’t matter, Kono.” Danny ran his hand through his blonde hair. “I have a good life. I have a job and good friends, even if their sanity is questionable at best,” Danny shoved playfully at Kono as he said the last part, “for crying out loud, I have been married once already, and she already has a grandkid… so really, she shouldn’t be hounding me anymore.” Danny’s hands were now flailing about as they often did, and Kono could sense a full blown rant coming on and broke in to stop it.
“She just wants you to be happy,” she said and slapped Danny on the back, putting her arm easily over his shoulders, while Danny tried and failed not to look annoyed that his partner was just slightly taller than him. “Come on, my haole, lunch break is over, time to catch some bad guys.”
——
Steve was looking at the display cases in front of him. He felt almost blinded by the light reflecting of all those precious stones. Next to him was Freddie Hart, his first hire as the new head of the Five-0 Taskforce. Freddie and him had stuck together ever since they dragged each other through BUD/s, and Steve couldn’t imagine running Five-0 without him.
Freddie looked at Steve, “You sure, you’re ready for this, man?”
“Freddie, Cath and I have been together for over 5 years,” Steve rubbed his temple. “Shouldn’t I have done this already?” he asked, half of Freddie, half of the guy behind the counter of the jewelry store, who just shrugged.
Steve and Catherine had been on/off for years, until finally 5 years ago they decided to actually making it official, and say that they were, in fact, a couple. Once, Steve decided his Navy career was coming to an end, he had been set to settle down on the East Coast, where Cath was by now permanently stationed. But then, he had visited his Dad on O’ahu, who, along with the governor of Hawaii, had all but handed him the keys to Five-0. A job that Steve hadn’t known, he wanted, until it was offered, and he couldn’t find a reason to say no. As it was, he’d been flying back East to see Cath as often as their schedules allowed. He hoped that a marriage proposal could at least make her consider putting in a request to transfer to Pearl Harbor or maybe even retire to the reserves with Steve and perhaps start a life and a family together.
“Any suggestions?” Steve looked questioningly at the jeweler, who in turn looked to Freddie, who just shrugged and said, “Don’t look at me.”
“I think, you’ll just know, when you find the perfect ring,” the jeweler finally said.
Steve heaved a deep sigh, which made Freddie exclaim, “Really?! None of them?!”
——
Danny was packing the last of his meager belongings in to the last box, ready to be carried out to the car. He was looking forward to picking up his daughter, Grace, from her mother; when a soft knock sounded on the door frame of the open door behind him.
“Come on in, the keys are right there on the table,” Danny said expecting his petite female landlord to come pick up the keys.
“Hi Danny,” said the very male voice of Danny’s boyfriend, instead.
“Oh, Brian, hi,” Danny said as he turned around and walked over, placing a kiss on Brian’s cheek. The other man was just a little bit taller than Danny, with black hair and deep dark eyes that Danny remember noticing from the moment they met. Danny walks over to the box, closing it up. “I think that’s the last of it. Turns out, you accumulate more crap than you think, even in a tiny studio apartment.”
“Danny, can we….” Brain starts and is interrupted by Danny, “Are you okay? You look pale, you’re not getting sick, are you?” Danny guided Brian to sit on the couch.
“I don’t think we should move in together,” Brian broke in rather loudly.
“Huh?” Danny was dumbfounded.
“I think we should break up,” Brian starts and holds up a hand to stop the oncoming rant from Danny. “Things haven’t been going well for a few months…”
“Hold up. Yeah… Relationships are tough, but we agreed to move in together to actually have time to fix those issues,” Danny breaks in.
Brian sighs and looks at Danny, “I asked, because I thought it was what you wanted, Danny, and I thought, I could want it, but I don’t.”
Danny stood up, “And you waited to tell me until AFTER I cancelled my lease, packed up everything I own, and told my daughter that we’d be spending Christmas decorating her new room.”
“I had to be sure,” Brian said in a perfectly normal tone.
“You do realise, you just made me homeless, right? Along with my daughter, two days before Christmas?” Danny said, holding back his anger, or he might just punch the man in front of him.
“Danny, you’re a great guy, but…” Brian wasn’t allowed to finish.
“I know I am,” Danny interjected and then all but yelled, “Get the hell out, Brian!” and proceeded to shove his now ex-boyfriend out the door and slamming it in his face.
——
Danny was channel surfing on Kono’s couch, and seeing only happy couples and family Christmas celebrations, as he heard Kono and Grace rummaging through the kitchen for ingredients to hot chocolate, and Danny had a sneaking suspicion that as soon as Grace was put to bed, Kono would dig out something with a lot more percentages.
When Brian had left, Danny had stuffed his suitcase, and the last of his boxes in the car, and left a voicemail for his landlord that the keys were on the counter. He had then driven straight to Rachel’s. Stan, Rachel’s husband, hadn’t picked Grace up from school yet, but that only gave him a chance to explain things to his ex-wife. Despite all their difficulties towards the end of their marriage, and Danny’s initial annoyance that she had dragged his daughter to this pineapple infested hellhole of a rock in the middle of the Pacific, they were now the closest to friends that they had been in a long time. And Danny no longer resented Hawaii with a passion. Rachel had hugged him, told him it would be alright, and that she and Stan would help him find a new place. And as much as he didn’t want to feel indebted to Rachel’s new husband, he was grateful. And he was even more grateful that she hadn’t tried to persuade him to let her take Grace with her and Stan to England for the holidays, now that Danny’s Christmas plans were looking a little uncertain.
Kono had been his first call after he had closed the door in Brian’s face. He didn’t even have to ask, she had told him in no uncertain terms that he and Grace could crash in her guest room for as long as he needed. Kono couldn’t be more different from Danny, on the outside at least, they looked like polar opposites. She was tall, beautiful, slim and dark, Danny was blonde, compact and on the shorter side for a guy. But Kono had quickly become like an annoyingly badass little sister. She was unlucky enough to be assigned the new haole transplant, because bonding with a partner was easy, when everyone thought she had only made it to homicide detective as quickly as she had, thanks to her cousin being the chief of detectives.
Danny very quickly found out that she took shit from absolutely nobody, which also included other people dissing her partner, and she was smart as a whip. It didn’t take him long to figure out that Chin Ho Kelly had actually assigned his cousin as Danny’s partner, because she was one of the few people on the force, who might actually give the blonde haired, New Jersey native a fighting chance. She had made fun of his tie, and had started calling him “my haole” from day one. But when Danny had seen her punch out a guy, who was twice her size, and had been holding a gun to Danny, he decided, she was the only one allowed to call him “haole.” And he’d do anything, he could, to make her the best damn detective Honolulu had ever seen.
His musings were interrupted by an 7 year old ball of energy, who launched herself at Danny and gave him a hug, while Kono followed carrying three mugs piled high with whipped cream and a plate of cookies on a tray. Grace and a mug as big as her face settled next to Danny, who put an arm around her, and gratefully accepted a mug from Kono, who curled up in what Danny thought looked more like a yoga pose than a comfortable way of sitting in an armchair. Dany had explained to Grace that they’d be staying with Kono for a while, because Danny and Brian wouldn’t be moving in together anyway. Danny wasn’t sure of her reaction, to be honest, but she seemed to have taken it quite alright.
——
Grace had been tucked in a few hours ago, and in true Kono fashion she had broken out a bottle of whiskey. Now, Danny was sitting in the darkened living room, comfortably buzzed, with the remote in his hands once again. Kono had said goodnight 40 mins ago with a kiss to Danny’s cheek, but he didn’t feel ready to go to bed just yet.
“Everybody seems to want to go home for Christmas….”
Danny looked up at the TV, and a thought struck him. He picked up his phone and searched for flights from Honolulu to Newark. All of them where either booked or more expensive than the rent on his last place. When he finally found a cheap flight, a red eye with three layovers, and it sold out before he could press buy, he almost gave up. But then his phone pinged and notified him of a last minute sale.
——
The next morning found Grace and Danny being dropped off at the terminal by Kono, who hadn’t been all that enthusiastic about being woken up at 5.30 and told to drive them to the airport, until Danny told her she could drive his Camaro as much as her heart desired, while he was gone.
Grace seemed ecstatic to be going to New Jersey to see her grandparents, much more so than she had at the prospect of getting to decorate her own room, when Danny had first told her, he was moving in with Brian. Danny reached in to his pocket for some change, and dumped it in the charity bucket of the Santa standing right by the entrance, making Grace beam up at him. Despite everything, Rachel and he had done a good job raising that kid. “Thank you, young man. Do you want anything for Christmas?” Asked the bearded guy, who Danny thought must be sweating severely in the Hawaiian heat. “Uh, new partner, place to live, got any of those?” Danny said only a little sarcastic. Santa smile overbearingly. As Santa asked Grace what she wanted, Danny noticed an older white haired gentleman looking over at them, smiling.
——
Steve was walking toward the entrance to that very same terminal, turning back and waving to Freddie, when that very same Santa asked, “Spare some change for the homeless?”
Steve stopped and dug out his wallet, “Sure, of course.” He smiled and dropped a 10-dollar bill. “Can I grant you a wish in exchange?” The man asked him. Steve smiled, “I don’t know, does Santa help people make big life decisions?”
As this exchange was taking place, the same older man, who had smiled at Danny, was looking at Steve, smiling and nodding ever so slightly to himself.
——
“Excuse me?” Steve said, as he tried crossing through the line that Danny and Grace was standing in.
“No, I won’t excuse you. I’m in line here, we’re all just patiently waiting in line.” Danny said, “You think, you’re so special, you can just cut the line? Let me guess, first class…”
Steve grinned and broke in, “Actually, yes, but um…” he trailed off and held up his boarding pass, as he pointed to the sign that said “precheck”. “One of the few perks of flying across the country, a lot. Anyway, good luck.” Steve smiled at Danny and Grace and left.
When they finally made it to the front of the line, Danny was rummaging through his carry-on shoulder bag, but couldn’t find their ticket, when he promptly dropped his tablet.
“Oh, careful,” came the warm voice of the older man Danny had seen outside. “Wouldn’t want to break that.” He had picked up Danny’s tablet and was handing it back. “Don’t worry, everyone needs a little help during the holidays.”
“Thanks, buddy,” Danny replied, stuffing the tablet back in the bag. The old man reached over to the front pocket and produced the ticket. “I believe you were looking for this.” The man smiled, and winked at Grace, and before Danny had time to properly thank him, he was gone.
As Danny handed over his ticket, he noticed something wasn’t quite right. “Huh? I thought we had three layovers.” The guy behind the counter looked at him with tired eyes, and mumbled, “Must be your lucky day. Line 3.” Danny grabbed the ticket and Grace, and made his way towards security, while he whispered to himself. “I must have been more tired and/or drunk, than I thought last night.”
——
Steve boarded the plane, looked at the text from Cath, and turned his phone off for the flight. As the rest of the passengers came on to the flight, Steve noticed an older man, who was struggling with his bags and jacket. Steve couldn’t help but overhear that the gentleman had a seat all the way in the back.
“Excuse me, sir, would you like my seat?” Steve got up and was already taking his bag out of the overhead compartment as the man started to protest. “No, please, it’s a long flight, you’ll get to stretch your legs,” Steve finished.
“Mr. McGarrett, you’re giving up a seat in first class,” the flight attendant interrupted.
Steve smiled, grabbed his bags and said with a wink, “I’ll live, at least it isn’t a seat in a cargo hold,” and made his way to the other man’s intended seat.
Steve was getting seated, again, as he saw the shorter, blonde man, who had all but yelled at him in the line, walking down the aisle, with a girl, who Steve assumed was the hot head’s daughter, in tow.
Danny felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, “Brian,” he said rather cooly as he answered.
“I was just wondering, when you were going to pick up your stuff?” Brain asked on the other end.
“You can’t be this much of a jerk!” Danny exclaims, while looking towards mister tall, dark and handsome that Danny had reprimanded rather loudly in the terminal, and who was now sitting in the aisle seat of Danny and Grace’s row.
“Dude, I was just waiting for you to board,” Steve explained not realizing that the other man was on the phone.
Danny didn't notice, what the guy was saying, too busy trying not to use a string of swearwords in front of his daughter to answer Brian’s question of why Danny thinks he’s a jerk. “Excuse us,” Danny says to the other man, guiding Grace to the window seat and trying not to bump into the other man as he takes the middle seat for himself.
Danny continued his conversation. “Because, Brian, I just boarded a plane with my daughter, to go see my family in New Jersey for the holidays - after you ruined mine, because you are a ungrateful man-child, who I have sadly wasted almost two years of my life on. I mean, what kind of a person, dumps their boyfriend, kicks them out of the house, they were going to move in to, during the holidays!” Several rows, and Steve, turned to look at Danny.
“Sir, the captain has turned on the seatbelt sign,” the flight attendant tried to break in, as Danny’s loud conversation continued, but Danny didn’t hear her.
“Buddy!” Danny registered mister tall, handsome and annoying (as his mind had dubbed the guy) poking him and signaling toward the flight attendant, who was staring at Danny and repeating, “All electronic devices must be turned off for take off.”
“We’ll continue this later, Brian,” Danny hung up the phone. He ensured that Grace was correctly strapped into her seat. She was already busy looking out the window.
——
Steve was looking through the in-flight magazine, when the guy next to him said, “Well, if it isn’t the line cutter.”
Steve chuckled, “I wasn’t cutting the line.”
“What happened to first class?” Danny asked
“I traded it,” Steve shrugged.
“No, really,” Danny said in disbelief, “you’re telling me you gave up a first class seat and decided to sit here instead. Let me ask you a question, are all other men than me liars, or is it just the ones in my life?”
“No, just an older man having a rough day, so I helped him out. You’d have done the same.” Steve smiled.
“Yeah, I’m feeling real charitable right now,” Danny huffed, and turned to look at his daughter, as a flight attendant’s voice came over the speakers.
“Welcome, onboard flight 1225 to New York, our captain is Captain Dunn, who has informed me that the flight time will be approximately 9 hours and 30 minutes.”