Work Text:
~ Back in the White House ~
It’s been two weeks since Grace’s birthday and the incident that happened with Danny. He was in his office reading some papers when he heard a knock on the door. Danny said "come in" when Steve opened the door and let Grace and Kono into the office. Kono stood next to Steve while Grace came in, gave her dad a hug and sat in his lap.
“To whom do I owe the pleasure of having my 12 year old daughter sitting on my lap even though a month ago, she swore she was too old to do it?” asked Danny with his hand still around her.
“Well, two weeks ago, this thing happened to my Danno and scared all of us. So I decided, I’m never too old to sit in my daddy’s lap," replied Grace.
“I like that,” Danny tried not to show his tears by giving his daughter another hug and kissing her forehead.
“By the way, it came to my attention that my Danno have been working too hard lately. Plus he never took a vacation since his term started so I was talking to Miss K here and she was telling me how relaxing and beautiful Hawaii is.”
“I’m liking the way this conversation is going. Carry on, Monkey.”
“Well, since you didn’t really give me a birthday gift, I was thinking how about we go to Hawaii?! It can be part birthday present and part presidential vacation.”
Danny looked at his little girl then looked at Kono, who was kind of hiding behind Steve before he said, “So Ms. Kalakaua, do you think Hawaii is good for relaxing?”
Steve looked at his friend and pushed her a bit so she would at least look at Danny while talking, “Well Mr. President, it is a refreshing place. The weather is always lovely, the people are friendly and, of course, the food,” she looked at Steve pleading him to help her, “I’m sure agent McGarrett can tell you everything about it since, like me, he grew up there.”
“Oh really, what can you tell me about Hawaii that’s going to make me want to take a vacation there, Steve?”
All three were looking at Steve now when he cleared his throat and said “Well sir, I can say there’s lots of pineapple there but you don’t like that so maybe I can bribe you with some shaved ice?” Steve smirked and even though there were two other people in the office looking at him while he spoke, he was talking like Danny and him were the only ones in the room.
“Yes, I love shaved ice. Remember Daddy, we got it once in Jersey? Please, Danno. I really want to go to Hawaii and learn how to surf,”
“Surf? Monkey, when is the last time I let you go swimming in the ocean?”
“I don’t know …”
“Well I can help you with this, Never!! The ocean is too dangerous for a swim let alone surfing that might get you a head injury and ..”
Grace cut him off, “But Danno!! I’m not just going to jump in the ocean! Plus I’m sure Kono will be with me all the time! And from what she said, her cousin, Chin, can surf too. He can even protect me since he's a cop! And Steve can be there too since he can surf!”
“Woooh now, Monkey, you're planning as if you're already going there. You can’t just assume everything is going to happen, we need to plan this.”
“Danno, please make it happen, I really want to go to Hawaii! And you need that vacation, when was the last time we just sat down for a movie night? I know you’re the President now and you need to take care of everyone, but I miss just sitting down with my Danno and enjoying a snack in front of the TV. Danno you promised this won’t affect us, and I’m going to support you if you ran for another term but I really do miss my Danno time,” she was trying to hide the fact that she was crying but the tears were coming down too fast so she left her father’s lap and ran out of the office. Kono nodded to Steve and Danny before following Grace.
The Oval Office was silent again and Danny was speechless. He did promise his daughter that running for presidency will never affect their relationship. No matter what his schedule was, he always woke up Grace in the morning and had breakfast with her before he started his daily meetings and she headed off to school.
Since she wasn’t 8 anymore, he thought that she would rather spend the hour before bed chatting with her friends or watching TV but instead they replaced the story reading ritual with just chatting about the long day they had. He loved his daughter so much; there was no doubt about that but he has been a bad father lately.
He sighed before running his hand through his hair and then he noticed the other person, who was in the room with him. Steve had a look on his face, a look that Danny didn’t know how to explain. Danny sighed again, stood up and walked around the desk till he was standing on the other side of the desk and rested on it, facing Steve. “So I’m a bad father,” Danny said.
“No, you're not,” said Steve, maybe a bit too quickly. He took a deep breath than approached Danny and put his right hand on Danny’s left shoulder, “you do as much as you can but sometimes it’s the small things that count.”
His hands felt warm on Danny’s shoulders, touching Danny felt good, what the hell are you doing? He thought to himself, you're not falling in … Danny covered Steve’s hand with his and said “I just promised myself, the moment the presidency will affect my relationship with my daughter, I’ll take a break and try to fix it! It happened...it’s been happening for a while and I didn’t even notice it!”
Danny’s hand stayed there, like it belonged over his hand; his heart was beating, a bit too fast for his liking! He needed to say something, “Hawaii is beautiful you know,” Steve tried to smile nervously, “I was born there and it’s one of the most amazing places on this earth… And I’ve been to a lot!”
“Will you be my personal tour guide?”
“Considering that my job description is to shadow you 24/7, I think being a tour guide won’t be a hard thing to add.”
“But I don’t want to go to all the touristy places, we’ll just find a place where we can relax and where my Monkey can learn how to surf.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You don’t want to learn how to surf?”
“Aah well, I'm not a big fan of the ocean, you know.”
“You do know how to swim, right?”
“Do I know how I swim? Of course, I do!”
“I doubt that!”
“Excuse me. You're talking to the President of the United States of America here and he’s telling you that he knows how to swim.”
“I really want to believe you, Mr. President but I can't till I see you in your swim trunks in the ocean.”
“You want to see me in my swim trunks?” smirked Danny
“You know what I mean, Sir,” Steve was blushing.
Danny couldn’t help but smile. He let go of Steve's hand and walked to sit in his chair. Once he sat down, Danny reached for the phone on his office and called up one of his assistant, “Yes, Miss Roberts, would you be angel and call up the Vice President for a small meeting? Yes, I think I’m ready to plan my first vacation.”
Steve smiled at Danny as the other talked on the phone. He nodded to Danny, who waved in return, and walked out of the Oval Office. Better start planning as well, thought Steve as he went to check on Grace and Kono.