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It was nearly Christmas. Time of joy, goodwill and whatever else there was that Steve couldn't remember. He hadn't had much use for it in recent years, last year not withstanding when the team had tried to make it nice for Grace.
This year though, it had all the makings of turning into a disaster. Rachel had taken her family away to England to visit her mother, leaving Danny depressed in a way Steve hadn't seen before.
His partner had toned down his ranting, gesturing, bickering. His smiles didn't reach his eyes and he was talking on his mobile more often than not. With whom though, Steve had no idea. If the phone calls had seemed to be helping, Steve wouldn't have complained but as it was, Danny seemed even more depressed when hanging up than he did before calling.
Steve was worried, and just a bit curious. And while curiosity might have killed the cat, Steve was a SEAL so he had no qualms whatsoever to liberate Danny's mobile while the man was discussing something with Chin, and to write down the number he had called… twenty seven times in the last week!
"Jesus Danno, I hope to god you haven't turned into a weird ass stalker. Wouldn't be cool at all if I'd have to make charges like that disappear." he muttered.
He put the mobile down in the exact same spot on Danny's desk where he had found it and headed back into his office to run the number, which thankfully didn't take much time. When he got a hit, he wasn't really surprised. The number Danny had dialled continuously in the last few days was to someone in New Jersey. And the name listed was Williams, D.
**************************
Sitting in his office, Steve had a clear view of Danny, who was sitting in his chair doing paper work - as he had the last two days. Even crime seemed to take time off around Christmas. Danny though didn't look to be in any kind of celebration mood. If it hadn't been so sad to watch, Steve would have called the expression on Danny's face a pout, but as it was he'd rather go with 'blue'.
He had tried to talk to Danny, had tried to find out what was bothering his partner besides missing his daughter, but no luck. Danny had stubbornness perfected and was a master of evasive answers. It was frustrating and made Steve feel useless beyond all imagination. He was a SEAL, leader of 5-0. He was Danny's partner and his best friend and yet he wasn't able to fix whatever was bothering the man.
When Danny looked outside his window, taking in the clear blue sky and sunshine, heaving a big sigh and burying his head in his hands, Steve made the decision he'd been agonizing over ever since he had found out whom the phone number belonged to.
Sighing himself, he picked up the phone and pressed the numbers he knew by now by memory.
It was time to call the cavalry and Steve could only hope they would be able to help. Or rather, that they would be willing to help. He wouldn't put it past Danny to have painted him as some kind of crazy, self-destructive lunatic. So it was with some trepidation that he waited for someone to pick up the phone.
"Williams."
It was the voice of a woman, and Steve hoped he'd be right in assuming that it was Danny's mother.
"Hello, Mrs. Williams. My name is Steve McGarrett and…"
He didn't get further because something that sounded kind of like a squeal nearly blew out his eardrums.
"Moooooom. It's Steve!"
Right. So, it wasn't Danny's mother but his sister. Also, what the hell?!
The phone was handed over it seemed and the next voice, while female too, had a slight Italian accent. Which explained quiet a lot about Danny, Steve thought with a grin.
"Commander McGarrett? I'm sorry about my daughter's familiarity. But we have heard so much about you from Danny that we all feel we know you."
It was impossible not to hear the smile in the woman's voice and even if she could not see it, Steve had no choice but to return it. It was nice to hear that Danny talked about him to his family.
"Please, call me Steve. I…didn't know Danny talked to you about me. I hope he didn't tell any lies."
"Well, I'm not sure Steve. Danny is prone to exaggerate but I think not even he would dream up shark tanks and grenades."
It was said slyly and Steve couldn't help but cough.
"Lies," he choked, "definitely lies."
And damn his blond partner for rattling him out.
"I thought so." She obviously didn't believe him. Steve could practically see her tongue in cheek.
He coughed again, and changed the topic.
"Right, glad we cleared that. Now, Mrs. Williams, the reason I'm calling…"
"It's nothing bad, right? My boy is alright?"
There was no laughter left in her voice now, only a sort of hesitancy.
He hurried to assure her that no, Danny was alright, but.…
"To be honest, I'm worried about him. But he won't talk to me. And I noticed he's calling you kind of all the time these days. Not that that's a bad thing," he hastened, worried that he had insulted her, "but it's not really normal for him."
For a moment there was silence, than with an impossible soft voice that only a mother could manage and that made something in Steve's chest ache, she said:
"My oldest son is a traditionalist in some things, Steve. He's a family man. When he was a teenager, although he liked going out with friends, he'd just as well stay at home to spend time with us. And before last year, there had never been a Christmas he hasn't been home. Even while he was married, Christmas Eve was spent at his childhood home. He told me Gracie is in England this year. I fear he's just getting homesick, Steve. There is nothing to distract him this year."
Homesickness. Steve could have kicked himself. Why hadn't he thought of that himself?
"Mrs. Williams, I have some questions. Maybe you could help me out."
*************************
The phone call had taken a good hour, in which he had been thankfully left alone.
After, he stood up, stretched and felt very pleased with himself. He had a plan now. And a SEAL with a plan was unstoppable.
He gave Danny's door a knock and entered before waiting for a reply.
"Danno, I'm grabbing something to eat. You want something?"
A shake of the head was his answer.
"Something to drink then? Some coffee?"
But Danny declined again. Steve now knew of course why, but he wanted Danny to tell him. So he settled down in the chair across from Danny and rested his eyes on Danny's tired looking face.
"You okay, Danno?"
"I'm fine, Steve. Just… It's the 23rd. My family…We don't eat or drink on the day before Christmas Eve. It's an Italian thing, my mum insisted on it."
And Danny had stuck to it, as Steve had been told, because he liked his traditions.
"I see, alright then. By the way, what are you doing tomorrow? Kono is spending the day with her family, same as Chin and Malia. If you don't have any plans, how about you come over for dinner? Mary can't make it and it would be nice to have some company. Some pizza, some beer, a movie. Just hanging out. Interested?"
He had to bite back the laugh that threatened when Danny suppressed a shudder at the words 'pizza' and 'beer' but after a second Danny gave him a small smile that looked real for the first time in a week.
"I'd really like that. When should I be over? And do you want me to bring something?"
Sprawling in the chair, he mirrored Danny's smile and shook his head.
"Don't worry about it, I got it. And anytime in the afternoon is great. Just come over when you want."
Danny had looked a bit happier for the rest of the day, making it clear that Steve's plan could only be a big success and even with the stress that surely would followed, he was certain it would be worth it.
*************************
While they had the twenty fourth to twenty sixth off, he had started cooking in the evening after coming home from shopping on the twenty third so everything would be ready for when Danny came over in the afternoon the next day.
The following day, Steve was glad he’d started when he did because it had taken him some time to get everything ready, mostly because it was on such short notice.
But there was also the fact that the Williams family was part Italian and part Irish and both parts put together equalled an amount of food that would make Steve's table groan.
He had cooked up a storm, had bought what he could find and improvised on what he hadn't been able to produce otherwise.
His fridge was stuffed; dishes that needn't be cooled had been put in the cupboards and by noon on Christmas Eve, all that was left was too produce a nativity scene, a tree and lights.
"None of these tacky, blinking, multicoloured fairy lights that most Americans are so fond of. Small, simple bulbs. Soft yellow light, Steve."
God help him, but Danny's mother was way too organized. Hell probably would be to go shopping with that woman.
But he had braved several shops and crowds to get the specified lights. Then he had driven out of town to one of the tree farms and had gotten a tall, bushy fir that looked beautiful. He'd probably have to rearrange his furniture to fit it into his living room, but well…he had been told that a small, plastic tree was a no-no. The one thing he had had to admit defeat on though had been the nativity scene. He hadn't been able to find one and when it got closer to three o'clock he had had to hurry home.
It was now four in the afternoon; he had dozens of dishes hidden away in his kitchen and a bare tree in his living room that took up most of the space cleared by the chair that had temporally been moved to the garage.
He was just putting down the box with ornaments he had fished out of the garage, when he heard the front door open and close.
"Steve?"
"In the living room." he yelled.
Turning around, he had the pleasure of seeing Danny's mouth open with surprise at the sight of the big tree sitting in the corner of the room.
"Babe? Am I early?"
Grinning, Steve shook his head and answered, "You're just right actually. Just got the ornaments and the lights, you can help put them up."
He could see the blond swallow but all he got was a quick nod. Then Danny rolled up his sleeves, stepped next to Steve and what followed was one of the nicest hours Steve had had in quite some time.
He got Danny and himself a beer and together they pulled apart the ornament box that Steve's mother had packed away years ago.
There weren’t any special pieces, apart from the three hand painted glass bells that had always belonged to the top branches of the tree, but many different, colourful pieces, enough to fill up the big fir.
Handing Danny on of the two fairy lights to detangle, he turned to put in a CD full of Christmas songs, freshly purchased under the condition that 'My little Drummer Boy' from Bing Crosby and David Bowie was on it, because "It's his favourite Christmas song, Steve."
He hit play, joined Danny on the floor to detangle the second chain and then there already was the first drum beat. Staring at Danny from the corner of his eyes, he saw how the man’s shoulders stiffened and his head cocked to the side and how a slow smile slid across his face.
"That's my favourite Christmas song. Love it."
"Well, then I chose the right CD it seems. I'm glad."
He gave Danny a slight push with shoulder and a grin, and in companionable silence, accompanied by the soft music, they worked together to wrap the lights around the tree.
"For once I'm glad you're so freakishly tall. I would need a chair for this monster of a tree. Reminds me of home. Dad always puts the lights up because mom is too small for it as well."
"You take after your mother then?"
A big grin was his answer.
"You bet. I got my dad's colouring, but everything else I got from mom. Height, temper, you name it. Whatever my fault, it's all because of her. Ready?"
Steve stepped back from the tree and gave Danny a nod while answering: "She must be pretty amazing then, considering the way you turned out."
Danny gave a chuckle and then ducked down to plug in the lights, before joining Steve in admiring the tree.
"Shit. This looks nearly like the one we had at home."
"That a good thing?" Steve asked with a sideway glance.
"Yeah. Yeah, a very good thing. Looks good, Steve."
Slinging an arm around Danny's shoulder, he pulled the smaller man into a short, sideways hug.
"It's been a really long time since I put up a tree, Danno. I'm glad we did this together."
Danny turned to meet his eyes and it could have turned into an awkward moment, but Steve was saved by Danny's stomach when it growled loudly.
Laughing, he pulled back and eyed the other man.
"Tell me you have had breakfast at least after fasting yesterday?"
"Na, I didn't. I knew I'd get fed by you so I didn't bother. When is dinner?"
Poking the apparently empty stomach in front of him, he answered, "I'd say now. Just…give me a second. Wait here."
He hurried from the room, upstairs to his bedroom and slid out of the shorts and the T-Shirt he had been wearing up till now. Instead, he pulled on a pair of black slacks and a short sleeved green dress-shirt. Then he grabbed the bag that sat next to his bed and made his way back down to Danny.
When he entered the room, Danny gave him a once over and a whistle, but that didn't disguise the confused look the blond was sporting.
He pushed the bag towards him and said, "Here, I took this from your office yesterday. That's the suit you keep there for court appearance. Not that you're not looking good, but I thought you might want to…dress up a little. Since its Christmas Eve and all…"
"Dress up for a pizza? Steve, what the hell is going on?"
Scratching his neck, Steve gave him a half embarrassed, half pleading look.
"Just change your clothes, okay Danno? And stay here till I get you. Please."
And then he left Danny to his confused gazes and started to heat up and set the table with all the food he had prepared yesterday and earlier in the day.
There were seven types of fish – "It's got to be seven, Steve!"- , fried, roasted, in a salad, you name it. Baked pasta was added along with a turkey that was stuffed with apples and potatoes and several vegetables as side dishes. Then, because he didn't want to get up later on, he put the panettone he had found by pure luck, and the plum pudding and the mince pies he had made on a side table to be in easy reach later on.
Lastly he filled the glasses with wine and gave the table a once over.
It was kind of full, but he had been reassured that was the way it was supposed to be. It wasn't decorated or anything but he had put his foot down on that one. Decorating the table was a line he wasn't willing to cross to womanhood, not even for Danny. Still, even without, it looked nice. By now the sun was setting outside, so he turned on the lights, dimmed them though to give the room a soft glow and went to get Danny.
The man had changed as he had been told and looked really nice in his good suit, the dark one with the blue shirt that did amazing things to his eyes. He had forgone the tie, but that was fine with Steve. It was supposed to be comfortable, even if the Williams family liked to dress up nicely for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
"So… dinner is ready. You coming?"
Another searching look, but Danny followed him without a word.
It was when they entered the dining room though that he stopped stock-still in his track, making a choking sound.
Steve turned around and was greeted by the sight of a rapidly blinking man whose mouth opened several times without a word ever making it out.
"Steve, what… Steve?"
Wide blue eyes hefted on his and for once he was treated to the sight of Danny with all his defences down. His face was open in a way that made him seem several years younger and vulnerable. Steve wanted nothing more than to bundle him up and keep him somewhere save.
Abruptly sitting down at the table, he reached for the fish salad, without sparing Danny another glance.
"Sit down, eat. You haven't since yesterday, you must be starving. I hope you like this, I…"
A hand on his shoulder stopped his rambling, and searching eyes caught his.
"Steve?"
And okay, this was ridiculous. It was nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone would do this for his best friend. So he made himself meet Danny's gaze without flinching and said, "I talked to your mother. Because you've been down ever since Grace went away to England for the holidays. And you were on the phone a lot but never seemed better after. Only…depressed and sad. So I might have snatched the number and called to see who you were talking to. And it might have been your mother. Who said you were homesick. And I get that, Danno."
He covered Danny's hand with his own.
"I know you're a long way from home, Danno. And it can't be easy, especially because Hawaii is so very different from New Jersey. Your family is very far away and I'm sorry you couldn't go home this year because of work. So, I got her to tell me what you usually did. And I got you the tree, Danno. And the food, as far as I could, at least. And later, after we've eaten this panettone or whatever it's called, we're going to go to the midnight mass. A Christmas like you know it, Danno. And I hope, at least for tonight and tomorrow…"
And here he had to swallow and look away because, really? How could he have been such an idiot? No man would to this for a best friend. A best friend would have stuck to the beer, pizza and movie. He was Danny's best friend, alright. But he was also a man head over heels in love it seemed.
Pushing that scary thought back for now, he made himself finish his sentence.
"I hope, for these two days at least, that this can be your home, away from home."
He didn't get an answer. He got a lapful of man.
Hastily pushing the chair back a bit further to save his plate, he could do nothing but return the embrace that threatened his breathing. Danny's face was pressed against his neck and the compact body in his arms was shaking a bit.
"You're not crying, Danno, are you?" he asked a bit frightened.
"No, I'm not you fucker." The answer was voiced in a rough tone and when Danny leaned back a bit his eyes were red. But there were no tears.
"It's just… No one has ever done something like this for me, Steve. Never."
And then he kissed Steve.
**************************
There had been quite a lot of kissing and in the end they had had to reheat some stuff. But that was okay, because Danny insisted on saying a prayer before starting to eat anyway.
"It's not because I'm religious or anything, but it’s Christmas Eve. It's what my family does on this day."
They ate a bit from everything, with Danny nearly squealing like Grace when he saw the mix of dishes. Steve was amazed to see how appreciated his efforts were and Danny enjoyed introducing him to every dish he didn't know - which were most of them.
After, when the fridge was filled with enough leftovers to feed them up to New Years Day, they moved back into the living room, turning of the lights to cuddle up on the sofa to the soft sounds of 'Little Drummer Boy', enjoying the lit Christmas tree.
They both had a glass of wine in their hand, taking a sip now and then while trading lazy kisses.
There still was some time until mass would start and Steve was happy to just stay here and be lazy.
He pressed another kiss to Danny's neck, which sat so invitingly in front of him and pulled the man further against his chest.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you a nativity scene or snow, Danny. I'm sorry I couldn't bring you home. But next year, I promise."
Danny muttered something under his breath, before taking both of their glasses and putting them on the coffee table. Then he turned and grabbed Steve's chin, forcing him to meet his eyes.
"You gave me so much tonight, Steve. More then anyone ever did. I miss my parents, my family and my friends. I had them just a phone call away for over thirty years. But tonight, you gave me a piece of home. And it was perfect. But this…," he paused to trace Steve's cheekbone with his thumb and gave him a soft smile and an even softer kiss.
"This is home too."
~The End~