Chapter Text
Steve stared at Danny, he couldn’t believe he was having this discussion again. He thought it’d been settled weeks ago, but no. Apparently the good ideas fairy was still playing silly buggers.
“They look hideous!” Steve exclaimed, “No Danno, those drapes should only be seen in one place…the bin”
“And I suppose you’re an expert in Italian furnishings now? Or maybe just in drapes in particular? I’ve seen your house, Steven, I don’t think you have any idea what good furnishings look like” Danny ranted at him, “These drapes came all the way from Rome – ”
“And they are hideous!” Steve interrupted, “And they didn’t come from Rome, I saw the invoice, they came from Florence”
“Regardless, these are the drapes that you adorn an Italian restaurant with, there are no two ways about it” Danny told him
“They’re not going up! I don’t know how many times I can tell you that” Steve responded, “Unless you want to scare away all the customers, is that what you want to do?”
“It won’t be the drapes that scare them off, it’ll be – ” Danny started
“Hey!” Tani’s voice at the door interrupted Danny mid-rant, “Sorry to interrupt the very productive work the two of you are doing - ”
“You’re not interrupting anything, the matter’s settled, I was just telling Danny he needs to burn some drapes” Steve interrupted
“You can’t burn them, they’re worth a fortune! Do you know how much I paid to order them? They’re not easy to find - ” Danny exclaimed
“Whoa whoa whoa, how much were they?” Steve asked
Before Danny could respond, Tani cleared her throat, “Gentlemen!”
“What?!” Danny and Steve asked in unison
“Boss, there’s a child out here asking for you” Tani told them
Steve frowned, “What child? Why is it up here?”
“What did you do?” Danny asked Steve
“What?” Steve asked
“Is this one of your spawn coming to meet their father?” Danny asked, then grinned, “I’ve got to see this”
“What?” Steve asked, but followed Danny and Tani out of the office.
Lou was crouched by a young boy, who couldn’t have been more than 5 years old. The boy was wearing a school uniform, despite it being a Saturday, and he looked grubby. His uniform was torn in a few places and there was dirt on most of the uniform and the kid’s face.
“Hey buddy, I’m Danny Williams, this guy here is Steve McGarrett” Danny introduced them, “What’s your name?”
“Bobby Peterson” the kid responded, then looked at Steve, “My mum’s Tracey Peterson, she said find you if anything bad happened. She made me remember your address and where you worked”
Danny looked at Steve, who’d come closer when he heard the kid’s mother’s name. “You know Tracey Peterson?” Danny asked Steve
“Yeah” Steve nodded, then turned to Bobby, “So I take it something bad happened?”
Bobby nodded, his eyes tearing up. He quickly wiped his face with the back of his hands before replying, “I got home from school yesterday and the house was all messed up. There was paper all over the floor and the table was smashed up, and mum wasn’t there”
Steve exchanged a glance with Danny, he didn’t like where this was headed.
“What happened after that?” Danny asked softly
“I went into the tree house and waited for mum to come home” Bobby responded, “But she didn’t”
Bobby sniffled and wiped his eyes again, “I tried to call mum’s phone, but all the phone’s in the house didn’t work. And I left my phone at school. Then I remembered mum saying that if something was wrong, I needed to find Steve McGarrett, so I started walking”
“You couldn’t have got a lift from one of your neighbours?” Tani asked
Bobby shrugged and looked down, “Do you know where my mum is? I want to go home”
Lou stood up and asked, “Hey Bobby, are you hungry? Have you eaten anything?”
“I’m starving!” Bobby exclaimed, looking up, “But I don’t have any money, I spent my money at the tuck shop yesterday”
“I’ll go get you something” Lou said, then walked out
“So you left home last night, did you walk all night?” Steve asked
Bobby nodded, then shrugged and shook his head, “I slept under a bridge about half way”
Danny exhaled sharply, clearly not happy with the situation. He was probably thinking about Charlie who was about the same age.
“Bobby, can you tell me your address? I want to check up on your house” Tani asked
Before Bobby could respond, Steve stepped in, “S’ok Tani, I know the address”
“You’re taking me home?” Bobby asked, brightening up since the first time he’d could into the office
“You’re gonna stay with Tani and Lou for a bit” Steve told him, “Danno and I are going to head back to your place, make sure everything’s okay first”
“But I really wanna go home” Bobby told them, looking to be on the verge of tears again
“I know son, but you’ve gotta stay here” Steve told him, “Tani and Lou will take care of you”
“But mum told me to stay with you no matter what” Bobby argued
Steve knelt next to the boy and looked into his face, then asked, “So your mum trusted me, right?”
The boy nodded and wiped his face again, clearly trying to keep his emotions under control.
Steve nodded, then continued, “So that means that anyone I trust, you should trust too, right?” When Bobby didn’t disagree, Steve then said, “I trust my team with my life, which means that you should trust them too. What do you think?”
“I want to stay with you” Bobby told him, his eyes already welling up with tears again
“I know, but if there’s bad guys there, I’m gonna have to kick their butts and I won’t be able to do that if you’re there too” Steve told them
“But I could stay out of the way” Bobby volunteered, letting his tears finally fall
“You’d be out of the way if you stayed here” Steve responded, then wiped at the kid’s face with the cuff of his long sleeve shirt. “Besides, I bet you’re a bit tired. You could have a snooze here and we’d be back by the time you woke up. What do you say to that?”
Bobby thought about the proposal for a while, then conceded with a small nod.
“That a’boy” Steve said encouragingly, “We’ll be back in no time at all”