Title: Upsetting This World
Characters: Danny Williams/Steve McGarrett, Matt Williams, Grace Williams, Mary McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Catherine Rollins
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0 AU
Series: Honolulu 96731 'verse
Written For:
Prompt:
Summary: A day at the beach is more than well…a day at the beach.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Really at this point…you shouldn’t be reading unless you’ve read the rest of the series.
Warnings: swearing, misbehaving siblings, boys being dorky
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me, The Upsetter by Jack Johnson also does not belong to me.
Author's Note: So yay! This is another chapter in the Honolulu verse. I’ve noticed a bunch of high school verses popping up lately. I just want to say that if anything that happens in this one happens in any of those, it’s purely coincidental. I have the whole verse pretty much plotted out and I know where everything is going. I’m posting them in order, but I have quite a few of the upcoming stories already started or notes made on them. I even have some of the Arc Three stories started. Just putting all of that out there so there are (hopefully) no issues with any of the other writers. (There haven’t been). I’ve read some of the stories and they are lovely ideas and stories and I support all the writers in the H50 fandom. As always this story would not be possible without my enabler (and beta) illfindmyway and my song provider whogeek. I love my girls!



Danny bit back a swear word as his phone blasted “She Drives Me Crazy” for the third time in five minutes. Twisting around, he managed to wiggle enough that he could fish it out of his pocket before it stopped ringing and hit the accept and speaker button. “What, McGarrett?” he demanded. “Have a little patience.”

“Where are you guys?” Steve’s voice sounded faraway because of the speakerphone, but there was no disguising the impatience.

“Turning into beach parking in about two minutes,” Danny answered, watching traffic for a break. “You almost cost me a dollar.”

“For?”

“Stop calling. It’s getting annoying with Gracie in the car.”

Steve chuckled. “You almost swore.”

“Hel…Heck, yeah. I’m trying to drive and your annoying ringtone goes off every two seconds. What do you expect?” Danny took advantage of the lull in traffic and turned into the parking lot. “We just pulled in. Lemme find a parking space and we’ll meet you.”

“We’ll come up and find you,” Steve replied. “It’ll be a whole lot easier. What’re you wearing?”

Danny made a strangled sound, ignoring the laugh it got from Matt. “Steven! Speakerphone! Child in the car!”

“Danny! I didn’t mean it like that! Not like that now! I just wanted to know what to look for!” he hurried to explain. There was a brief exchange of voices from his end. “Never mind, Kono says she knows the car you have. We’ll find you.”

“Wait, Steve,” Danny started, but was interrupted by the beep as Steve hung up. “Damn it.”

“Dan-no,” Grace said from the back seat.

“Yeah, yeah. I know, Gracie. When we get home.” Danny spied a parking place and quickly swung into it.

By the time he got the car situated and had managed to off-load all the paraphernalia that a small child needed when coming to the beach, the rest of the group had found them. Grace was the first to spot them and alerted her brothers to their presence when she shrieked, “Steve!” Danny turned in time to see her fling herself at the taller teen, using the bumper of the car as a launching pad. Steve got his arms up just in time to catch her as she plowed into him and Danny stifled a laugh at the shell shocked look on his face. “Danno’s going swimming!” she announced at high volume.

“Might, Gracie. Not will. Stop strangling Steve and come here. I need to put sunscreen on you,” Danny replied patiently. He handed the bag off to Matt, who rolled his eyes in response.

“Dan-no,” Grace whined. “I want Steve to do it.”

“Grace,” Danny warned. “One. We will go home.”

She pouted but allowed him to take her from Steve. Matt had spread a towel on the trunk of the car and Danny set her on it, digging a bottle of sunscreen out of the bag. He was rubbing it into the little girl’s skin when he heard Kono’s sparkling laughter. “Brah, are you wearing shorts? I mean actual shorts? And not jeans or khakis?”

Danny looked over his shoulder at the girl who was fast becoming one of his best friends on this godforsaken island. “I am at the beach, Kono,” he answered.

“Yeah, but normal people wear trunks to the beach,” she answered. “Not jean shorts.”

“Danny doesn’t own trunks,” Matt explained, ducking the cuff his brother aimed at his head. “Hey! There are a lot worse things I coulda said!” Reaching for his sister, he lifted her off the car. “Come on, Gracie. Protect me from our meanie head brother.”

“Can we go swimming now, Danny?” Grace begged, wrapping her arms around Matt’s neck.

“One second,” Danny answered. “I just need…”

“Steven!”

The entire group jerked at the strident sound of the call, Steve’s body stiffening. Grace gripped Matt tighter; leaning towards Danny at the same time and almost pulling him off balance for a second before he rightened himself. Danny reached out, resting a hand on her back as if reassuring them both. Kono rolled her eyes; obviously knowing who it was as Steve closed his eyes briefly as if in pain. When he opened them again, he said evenly, “Mary,” as he turned to face the petite blond striding towards them. “I told you to wait down below. That we’d be right back.”

She’d reached the group by this time and paused on the outskirts of the gathering, crossing her arms as she glared at them. “I don’t see why I have to wait.”

“Because…” Steve started and then obviously changed his mind about what he’d been planning to say. “Never mind. Just…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Whatever. Danny, you remember my pain in the ass, right?”

Grace held her hand out to Steve. “Bad word, Steve. That’s a dollar.”

“That’s a…? Wait. What?” Steve looked in confusion from Grace to Danny and back again. “A dollar?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Swear jar. And no, Grace.”

She glared at him. “Yes, Danno.”

Danny took Grace from Matt, swinging her around until she squealed and then settling her on his hip. “Grace, you are not exhorting money from Steve. So yes he used a bad word, but no he is not putting money in the swear jar. You’ve already made enough money from my mouth this morning.”

Grace considered this for a minute, then wiggled until Danny let her down. She marched over to Steve, tugging on the hem of his t-shirt until he bent down to talk to her. “You shouldn’t use bad words,” she told him seriously. “But Danny says you don’t have to pay.”

“How ‘bout I buy you a shave ice instead of putting money in the jar?” Steve offered. “And I’ll try to watch what I say?”

“Oh, that’s good. Bribe my little sister,” Danny said as Grace nodded frantically in agreement. “You. You are entirely too easy,” he told her.

“But, Danno. It’s shave ice,” she explained.

“Now that I’ve hit my barf limit for the day,” Matt broke in. “Was there a point to us coming to the beach today?”

Kono laughed. “Sure, come on, haole, let’s go down to the water. You gonna go in? Or you gonna tell me you don’t swim like your brother?”

“Hey!” Danny protested. “I swim. I don’t swim for fun is all. I swim for survival.”

Steve chuckled at the other teen’s words. “We’ll get you in the water yet,” he said when Danny glared at him. “Come on, Mare,” he added, turning to where his sister had been standing, but the skinny blonde was nowhere in sight. He felt his breath catch where a quick scan of the area didn’t turn up any trace of her. “Um, guys, where’d she go?”

Danny wrapped a hand around Steve’s bicep, long practice allowing him to balance Grace with one arm. “Deep breaths. Don’t panic yet. She can’t have gone far. We’ll find her. Matty?”

“Yeah. Got it. Gracie, come here, baby.” Matt held his arms out to his younger sister, for once not arguing with Danny. Although clearly worried, Grace went willingly from one brother to the other, tucking her head against Matt’s neck and allowing herself to be soothed by a hand against her back. “We’ll stay here,” Matt assured their brother.

“Okay. Steve.” Danny took a look around himself, hoping he’d spot the girl quickly. “She’s got a cell, right?” When Steve nodded curtly, Danny suggested, “Try calling it. Even if she doesn’t answer, we can try to use the sound to locate it.”

“Um, I don’t have my phone?” Steve looked at Danny sheepishly.

“How did you…? Ya know what, never mind.” Danny dug his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Steve. “Use mine.” Turning to Kono, he asked, “Any ideas on where she might have gone?”

Kono looked up from where she was texting on her own phone, and Danny really didn’t want to know where she’d produced it from considering she was wearing just a tiny bikini, to answer, “No, but I’m alerting Chin and Cat that she went missing and they’re looking. I gave them a description of what she was wearing. I also sent texts to some of the surfers I know that were on the beach. They might still be out on the water, but if anyone’s near their phones…” she trailed off as her phone beeped. “Um, Steve? Kai located her.”

Steve turned from where he’d been holding the phone to his ear, scanning the visible area for any sign of his sister. “Where is she?” he demanded as he tossed the phone in Danny’s direction.

The dark haired surfer girl rattled off a set of complicated directions that had Danny blinking in confusion, but Steve obviously followed because he took off running; his long legs easily eating up the ground. “Kono?” Danny demanded.

“Just come on,” Kono replied as she took off after Steve.

“Stay put!” Danny ordered his brother. He quickly caught up to the surefooted girl, but they were furlongs behind the taller boy.

By the time they caught up to him, Steve was in the middle of a group of Hawaiian teenagers, yelling at them. “She’s fourteen! Fourteen! Did you even bother to check?!” He turned on Mary. “God, Dad is going to kill you!”

“You know what, Steve? Fuck off. I didn’t want to come to the beach today. At least not with your friends. So just leave me alone.” Mary crossed her arms and glared at him, refusing to budge as Steve tried to pull her away from the group of surfers.

Steve crowded towards her, lowering his voice. “You didn’t want to come and I didn’t really want you, but neither of us had a choice. Dad doesn’t want you left alone. Now you agreed not to give me any trouble today and I asked Cat to take you shopping so would you please stop?”

The surfers decided it was better for their health to vacate the area and they cleared out as Steve shifted his glare to them when Mary still refused to budge. Danny wrapped his hand around Steve’s bicep, tugging to get his attention. “What’s going on, McGarrett? What are you doing with your sister? Let her go.”

“If I let her go, she’s going to run away again,” Steve growled.

“Kono?” Danny asked. “Grab her, will ya?” Once Kono had the younger girl by the arm, he stepped into Steve’s personal space, lowering his voice, “You wanna chill out, Rambo? This is not what we talked about. Okay, I get you might be having a crisis with her taking off, but you’re blowing this way out of proportion. So can we go back and get my sister and you nuts can take her into the water and I can freak out? Over something that’s a bigger danger? I mean we’re on an island. How far can she really go?” He turned to Mary, who had been watching the exchange with interest. “And you. My brother is not this much of a pain in the ass. Now I might not like this pineapple infested hellhole, but I’m stuck here, and I do a lot for my siblings, so be nice to your brother and hang out with us. Seems to me that he’s giving you something that you want so you should give him what he wants. He’s not asking for much.”

“Why should I do what he wants?” Mary demanded. “It’s not like I ever get to do what I want. I have to go to that stupid school. And then I come home and I have to spend time with his dumb friends.”

Danny grinned. “Hey, I resent that. I’m not dumb. And Kono’s pretty cool. Besides Steve said Cat was taking you shopping which seems to me that’s something you want to do?”

Mary nodded reluctantly. “She doesn’t put a time limit on our shopping time like some people.” She grinned. “And she tells me all the good gossip.”

Steve groaned, covering his face with a hand. “On second thought, you can’t go shopping with Cat. No matter how you behave.”

Danny smacked him lightly on the back of the head. “Hey! Stop it. I have a solution. Your sister is going shopping and we’re going to the water.” He shook his head. “Cannot believe I just said that. I’ve clearly been drinking the Kool-Aid.”

“Danny,” Steve started.

“Do you trust Cat?” Danny asked him.

“Yeah. Of course,” Steve replied immediately.

“Then rather than have to constantly keep an eye on Mary, let the girls go shopping. Gracie has been looking forward to the beach all morning. And you can spend time with your sister this evening,” Danny pointed out.

“Please, Steve?” Mary begged. “I promise I will not give Cat any trouble. I really, really promise.”

Steve raised his finger. “One call, Mary. One call from Cat and you don’t go anywhere ever again when you come home for the weekend without me.”

“Agreed.” She stuck her hand out for him to shake.

Danny shook his head. “Weirdest siblings ever. You two good now? Can we go get my siblings? Make sure they haven’t managed to get into trouble?”

Kono slung her arm around Danny’s waist as they started to walk back to the car. “You really that worried, brah?” she asked.

“About Gracie? No. Matty? I never know what that kid is gonna do.” He gave a silent sign of relief as the car came into sight and he could see Matt leaning up against it; Grace sitting on the trunk, happily playing and singing cheerfully.

“Danno!” Grace cried when she caught sight of them. She threw herself off the trunk; Matt just catching her before she hit the ground.

“Hang on, kiddo,” Matt said. “Gotta look for cars.” He swung her around and set her carefully on the ground, looking around before releasing her to run towards the group.

Danny scooped her up as soon as she reached them, hugging her to him. When Matt ambled up a moment later, he threw an arm around the younger boy’s neck, pulling him in. “Thanks, Matty,” he said. “I know it wasn’t what you planned.”

Matt rolled his eyes, the only feature he and Danny shared. “Not like I planned to come to the beach today. But can we at least make it to the water? Some of us don’t mind it.”

Steve laughed. “Not a problem, Matt. Grab your stuff.” He turned to Danny. “Kono said that Grace has been learning how to boogie board? If it’s okay, I’d like to take her out. Matt, Kono and Chin have offered to show you some more surfing since you already know the basics.” When he saw Danny start to protest, Steve explained, “The waves are pretty small today, Danny. They’ll be fine.”

“Steve,” Danny started. “If something happens to them…”

Steve grinned at him. “Trust me. They’ll be fine.”

“That. That is not a smile that engenders trust,” Danny called after him as Steve lifted Grace up over his shoulder, causing her to squeal. The taller boy took off running, Matt chasing after him. Danny sighed and gathered up their beach things, slinging his camera over his shoulder.

By the time Danny reached the group on the beach, Cat and Mary were gathering their things up and chatting happily about leaving. Steve had set Grace back on the ground and Chin was kneeling in front of her, talking softly as he showed her a shell he’d found. Danny dropped their bags by the towels and boards the others had laid out and called Grace over, pulling her floaties from the bag. “You need these, Monkey,” he reminded her.

Grace pouted, but submitted easily; apparently well-aware that Danny would refuse to allow her into the water if she didn’t allow him to put them on her. Steve crouched down next to her, poking at the blown up fins as Danny finished settling them. “Hey, li’ili’i Nai’a. Think your brother’s got another pair tucked in his bag? Then maybe I can get him in the water.”

“Danno doesn’t like the water,” Grace informed him. She looked up at Danny, who’d gotten to his feet. “Can I go in the water now? Please?”

“May I,” Danny corrected automatically. “You listen to Steve, okay?”

She rolled her eyes and Steve covered his mouth to prevent the laugh that wanted to escape at how much she resembled Danny. “I know,” she told him. Holding her hand out to Steve, she told him, “You may escort me to the water.”

Danny grabbed his camera from where it hung on the strap, lifting it up to snap off a picture as Steve lifted her up as they reached the waterline, faking like he was going to toss her into the surf. Grace’s happy squeal carried across the breeze and Danny felt himself smile. He turned to see where Matt was and saw Chin and Kono patiently coaching him near-by. Something loosened in his chest at the sight of his carefree and happy siblings.

Maybe there were parts of this place that weren’t so bad.


Li’ili’I Nai’a—little dolphin