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24-year-old Grace Williams was high above the Seattle Skyline, clipped into her harness. The construction firm she worked for back in New York had been contracted to build Seattle's newest skyscraper. She could see everything from up here, she loved it. It got her adrenaline going. When she was a kid, she thought she'd be a vet, but she grew up to be a skyrise welder. She switched from her university major and ended up taking a trade. Grace had zero regrets.
Grace finished the last seam in the piece she was welding to check her phone's text alert.
" Steve Came Home Monkey" Grace almost fumbled her phone and dropped it down into the streets below. If Grace were honest, the text made her mad. She didn't really know what to say, because what she wanted to say, couldn't be sent. She just sent Danno a heart emoji. She wouldn't rob her Dad of this moment. She needed to get home.
Grace briefly unclipped her choker strap to transfer it from the stationary track above her head to that of the walking track. Grace walked across the beams, she bypassed some by jumping them entirely until she got to the lift that'd drop her to ground level. She unclipped and shredded her five-point harness, as she approached the foreman on the site.
" Look, I have to go. There is a family emergency at home. I'm worried about my Dad" She said bluntly. The foreman didn't question her, he just nodded his approval. Grace threw her harness down in the backseat before getting in the driver's seat and driving off. She pulled into the parking garage of the downtown apartment she'd been renting, and headed to her place to pack a suit bag. She was at the airport, and on a plane to Hawaii within the hour.
When Steve left, it wrecked her Dad. Grace wasn't naive, she knew that Steve had her Dad's heart. Danny had never said it, but even as a kid, she knew there was something there. When the other man left he'd ripped Danny's heart out with him. Grace got off of the plane and hailed a cab when she exited the airport.
When the cab pulled up outside the McGarrett house Grace looked down toward the beach. She'd grown up there, she learned to surf there, and she watched her Danno fall in love there. Then it became the house of a ghost. She noted the absence of Danny's Camaro, he was likely at work. What Grace did notice was the red Chevy Silverado in the driveway, instead of the garage under the tarp, where it had been for nearly six years. Grace was seething.
Grace threw open the door and stalked into the kitchen, and there he was. His hair had more grey in it, and it was longer than she'd ever seen it. He probably had close to two inches on top, enough to be combed over to one side, and he wasn't wearing cargo pants, but Steven McGarrett hadn't changed.
" Gracie?" Steve said, almost whispered, and that just made her madder.
" Don't you Gracie me, Steven" Grace missed the pain that flashed across the man's face, as she stormed further into the kitchen, and grabbed the keys to the truck off the counter.
" Grace" Steve said his voice still uncharacteristically quiet. Grace just grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him out of the house.
" Get in the truck Steven" Steve looked like he was about to protest, but Grace shot the other man a glare. Steve didn't say anything after that. He just got in the truck and stays quiet. They'd been driving for almost an hour before she pulled the truck over on a dirt road at a clearing in the forest, and stormed out.
As soon as Steve got out of the truck, Grace shoved his chest. He wasn't expecting it, so he lost his balance and ended up falling back into his truck, but stayed upright.
" You got a lot of nerve coming back here!" Grace said as she stared Steve down her nostrils flaring.
" Grace..I.." Grace cut him off
" You What Steve, Please enlighten us? Wait never mind, because I don't care. While you ran off doing who knows what, and who knows who like a coward. You didn't have to watch Danno fall apart, and then piece by aching piece have to put himself back together." Steve made to move toward Grace, with an outstretched hand. Grace punched him hard across the jaw. Steve's hand came up to his jaws, as his eyes began to shine with wetness. Grace stared him down.
" Nobody knew if you were alive or dead Steven, nobody could reach you. You never wrote, Danno's constantly checked the state obituaries, afraid your name would be there. He kept coming by the house hoping just maybe you'd be there out on the beach in your chair but you never were. You broke him Steve..." Grace was cut off when harsh sobs hit her ears. Steve was crying, she'd didn't even know that Steve had the ability.
" I'm sorry! look I...I got scared ok." Steve wrenched out between sobs, tears streaming from his eyes. Tears that Steve couldn't seem to stop, he crumbled in on himself sitting on the grass, knees drawn up to his chest, face buried in his arms." Da..Dad's case was solved I didn't know where that left me. Everything started to eat at me, I left to try and fix me...bu..but I fucked that up to. Because I ran into Catherine on the stupid plane, and somehow ended up engaged because that was familiar before everything went to shit." Steve continued to sob, back shaking Grace stepped a little closer. " Be..before the Hesse brothers, and Wo Fat, the stupid CIA bullshit. Dad was alive. It..It never felt like home. No matter how hard I tried nothing ever felt right. Catherine wasn't Danny, I realized I fucked it up bec...because I lost my heart, My Ohana, Danny, My pup. I...I always fuck everything up. Why am I such a Fuck Up?" Steve ran out of words and continued to sob brokenly.
Grace finally crouched down beside Steve and rubbed his shaking back. The last of her anger fizzled away at the sound of Steve's name for her. Steve had called her pup from the day he first met her, and it drove Danno's crazy. Grace had tears in her eyes because now her heart was breaking for her Papa, her other Dad, and the pain he so obviously was carrying. Maybe that's why when Steve walked out it hurt so much, he'd become her second Dad. Not Step-Steve, but Papa.
Grace sat in the grace beside Steve and rested her head on his shoulder, and wormed her arm between his arms until she found a hand to grasp. Eventually, Steve rest his head against hers, and they just sat there. They said everything, without words a comfortable silence.
" I can't believe you kidnapped me" Steve finally said, his voice closer to normal, even though his eyes were still bloodshot, still puffy.
" Kidnap is kinda strong, don't you think?" Steve just smirked.
" I love you, pup" Steve said, and made sure Grace could see in his eyes how much he meant it. Grace smiled and hugged him.
" Let's go home Papa, I'm sure Danno is probably losing his shit because you're not home, and not answering your phone."
" Shit" Steve got up sprinting toward the truck, and stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around.
" Di...Did you just call me Papa?" Steve asked because he had to be hearing things.
" Yes Steven, I did" Steve smiled she sounded so much like Danny when she said that. Grace laughed as Steve bounced back to her and picked her up in a big hug. Grace was taller now, she was 5'8 and Danny kept telling her it wasn't fair. Steve finally put grace down, and they walked back to the car, Steve smacked the bottom of Grace's hand causing her to throw his keys in the air where he caught them.
" Papa, I was gonna drive," Grace said, as she chased off Steve who made a run for his truck and stuck his tongue out when he jumped into the driver's seat. Grace just rolled her eyes and used her hands to jump up and slide across the hood of the truck before getting in the passenger seat.
" Impressive, Steve said with a nod of his head."
" You know, Dad would have given me shit for that right?" Grace said as she looked at Steve seriously, and they both burst out laughing.
" Well, it's a good thing I'm your Papa and not your Dad," Steve said making a sharp hairpin turn on the mountain road.
Grace was pondering for a minute.
" Why do you call me pup, anyway?" Grace finally asked, after nearly 16 years.
" I was stationed with a bunch of Marines for about three years of my Navy career. Their kids were all called pups or devil pups. Because Marine's where known as Devil Dogs. I guess I just started calling you pup back then because it seemed right, and it sounded better than brat which is generally what the kids of Navy parents get"
Grace just smiled at Steve and grabbed his hand the way she did when she was a child and began to spin the fidget ring he always wore on his right hand.
Grace was happy, The Prodigal Father had returned.