The List

“Morning, Babe,” Steve said as he approached the Adirondack chairs. He had just emerged from his morning swim, looking as brain-melting hot as usual. But Danny barely acknowledged him except for giving him the towel from the back of his chair. Steve accepted it to give a cursory swipe over his body before sitting in the vacant chair, leaning over to snag Danny’s coffee. Even that failed to get a rise out of him. “What are you doing?” Steve finally asked, looking over to study his unnaturally quiet partner.

“Making a list,” Danny responded, waving at the yellow legal pad perched on the arm of his chair.

“I can see that. What’s it for?” Steve asked, leaning closer to try and read what Danny had written in his tidy handwriting.

“The wedding,” Danny said in a tone that implied that it really ought to be obvious, even to Steve. He reached over for the coffee cup that had taken up residence on the arm of Steve’s chair, adding several items to the bottom of the list before sipping the coffee.

“Wedding?” Steve repeated, looking out over the ocean. “Whose?”

“Grace’s,” Danny said with heavy sarcasm.

“Seems a little young for a wedding,” Steve decided, a smile threatening to ruin his nonchalance.

“You…you are… never mind,” Danny said, waving his hand in dismissal, the insult too much trouble when he had far more important things to concern himself with.

“What do you need me to do to help plan this wedding?” Steve asked with a distinct smirk.

“Is your dress blue uniform clean?” Danny asked, glancing over at Steve and not giving in to the impulse to smile in response to the fact that Steve was looking at him like Danny was what Steve wanted for breakfast. And lunch. And possibly dinner.

“Yes. Am I planning to wear it some time soon?”

Rather than answer, Danny made a checkmark next to one of the items, studying the rest. “All right,” Danny announced, standing up and stretching. “I’ll see you later.”

“Where are you going?” Steve asked with a frown up at him.

“Out.”

“When will you be back?”

“Later. Try not to blow up the house while I’m gone,” Danny requested, leaning down to kiss Steve’s salty wet hair.

“No promises,” Steve said, looking up at him. “I can come with you.”

Danny shook his head, a distinctly patronizing smile on his face. “No you may not. This will take me half the time without you. Your job today is ask Chin to be your maid of honor.”

“Maid of honor?” Steve laughed.

“Yes. Kono’s already agreed to be my best man. Can you handle talking to Chin?”

“Yes,” Steve decided after pretending to consider it. “But why isn’t Chin my best man?”

“I called dibs,” Danny said with a shrug. “Kono said yes but was not going to be anybody’s maid of anything. So there you go.”

“Then we need to have two best men…people…something.”

“Whatever. Just ask him. He’ll say yes. But you still have to formally request he stand for you.”

“Okay. I can do that,” Steve agreed. “I’ll tell them to come to dinner.”

“The idea is sound. But what if you invite them instead?” Danny suggested. “You can’t order them to come eat with us.”

“I can try,” Steve said with a not at all adorable pout.

“Good luck with that,” Danny said. “Do I need to get food for dinner while I’m out?”

“No. We’re good,” Steve said, standing up and stalking him until Danny allowed himself to be engulfed in a strong hug, Danny pretending to grumble about wet SEALs and personal space and things that Steve easily ignored as he kissed the words out of Danny’s mouth.

Danny finally made it inside where he showered and pulled on his jeans and a tee shirt. He wasn’t surprised that Steve was in the living room when he came down, sipping his coffee and watching Danny with his usual precision focus.

“What?” Danny asked, making sure he had his phone and legal pad.

“You might need these,” Steve suggested, dangling Danny’s keys from his finger.

Danny shook his head, taking Steve’s cup to drink from it before returning it. “Kono’s coming to pick me up.”

“Is that one of the jobs of the best man?” Steve asked.

“It is this time,” Danny agreed, reaching up to kiss Steve. “Please stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”

Steve shrugged in complete innocence, stealing another kiss as they heard Kono blow the horn to signal her arrival.

“I should be back by 2,” Danny said as he opened the front door.

“Bye,” Steve said, watching until Danny closed the door behind him.

~o0o~

It was closer to 2:30 when Danny returned, entering the house with a box that seemed to be filled to overflowing.

“Hey,” Steve said, following Danny into the kitchen as he put the box on the table. “What’s all this?

“Need to know basis, babe,” Danny said, turning to smile up at him. “Glad to see the house is still standing.”

Steve shrugged at that, going back to the sink to finish washing the dishes he’d been working on when Danny returned.

“You call Chin?” Danny asked, getting himself a glass of water.

“Yeah. He said yes. And he and Malia will be here at 6:00,” Steve said. “Kono and Charlie coming?”

“They are,” Danny agreed, taking out a folder from the box, opening it to show Steve three sample invitations. “Which one?”

Steve looked over the samples, drying his hands before extracting the three elaborate packages. One was white with embossed doves holding ribbons in their mouths. He frowned before replacing it. The second one was pale yellow, flowers adorning the corners of the invitation. He shook his head and returned it. The last was white with dark blue writing, the envelopes dark blue, with no decorations at all. “This one.”

“I figured,” Danny said with a nod. “All right. I thought we’d need about 100. That sound right to you?”

“A hundred?” Steve asked, considering it. “Do we know 100 people?”

“I have at least 50 family members to send it to. I’m ordering announcements and invitations. Fifty of each.”

“When is this wedding?” Steve asked, peering into the box that held all sorts of things he couldn’t imagine ever needing. Some of them frightened him more than any explosives ever could. Live grenades he could handle. Tulle? Yeah, not so much.

“In six weeks. The Governor has given us the week off afterwards.”

“For our honeymoon,” Steve said, smirking at Danny.

“Exactly,” Danny agreed.

“Where are we getting married?”

Danny pointed outside the French doors to the beach before pulling out a small catalog. “Which dress do you want for Gracie?” he asked, turning to the first page with a post-it note. The dress looked suitable for a fairy princess, all ruffles and ribbons and rhinestones. The second one was understated, straight lines of silk.

“Shouldn’t she decide?” Steve asked, flipping from the first to the second to study them.

“I asked her. She likes them both so we get to say. They are both available in navy so either one will work.”

“I’m leaning toward the fairy princess. Since she is one,” Steve said with the smile that was always reserved just for Grace.

“Okay,” Danny agreed. “I’ll let her know.” Danny dug through the box to find his legal pad, making a note next to item #43 – Grace’s dress. He pointed to #11. “Mary will be here the Wednesday before. She’s going to stay in a hotel. A lot easier all around.”

“She can stay with us,” Steve said, leaning over Danny to look at The List. He could plainly see that it was going to take up a significant portion of their lives for the foreseeable future and deserved the capitalization he had given it in his head.

“She prefers a hotel. Less craziness all around,” Danny assured him.

“Are you mom and dad coming?” Steve asked, pointing at #12.

“They are. So are my sisters. They are thrilled,” Danny said, checking that off.

“What time are we getting married?” Steve asked, kissing the side of Danny’s neck.

“At 6:23.”

“Sunset,” Steve said with a nod.

“Yep. Cut that out,” Danny said, swatting at Steve’s nibbling mouth.

“Really?” Steve said, kissing him again and biting his earlobe.

“Yes, really. #33. Kamekona said he would cater the reception,” Danny said, pointing at The List. “#21. We need a photographer.”

“Max can do it,” Steve said, trying to distract Danny with more kisses.

“Max? We don’t need the wedding autopsied. We need it photographed.”

“He’s really good. You haven’t seen his albums?” Steve asked.

“No. I didn’t realize you and Max were so tight,” Danny said, making a note next to #21.

Steve shrugged against Danny’s back, arms wound around Danny’s chest. “Music?”

“#14. What do you want?”

“You can decide,” Steve said.

“Fine. Good. I don’t want 80s nightmare music. You don’t get to complain if it’s mostly Jersey rock,” Danny threatened.

“As long as you play ‘Sexy Eyes’ at least once,” Steve said, tickling Danny’s neck with butterfly kisses, fully aware of what that did to Danny’s libido.

“Stop. Stop right now with the flirting. I don’t have time for you and your crazy long eyelashes and your ever changing eyes. Stop,” Danny said, turning in his arms to kiss him because what choice did he really have? Once they had pulled apart, fighting gravity all the way, Danny took a deep breath and pointed at The List. “This Wednesday. At 4:30. We need to be at Alexander’s studio.”

“Why?” Steve asked, trying to find that on The List. He suspected it was #31 – engagement photos.

“So we can have our photo taken,” Danny said, making it obvious that Steve should have known.

“Why do we need engagement pictures? That’s so…cliché,” Steve decided.

“Because the press is already calling. We can have an official photo taken or they can use one from a crime scene. I don’t know about you but I’d rather not have the announcement of our engagement accompanied with one or both of us in a blood soaked shirt and TAC vest.”

“Blood and TAC vests seem appropriate,” Steve said just so Danny would rant at him.

“You are such an animal,” Danny said, shaking his head.

“What are we wearing for this picture? Not our TAC vests, I’m assuming,” Steve said.

“A suit. Black. No tie, I promise. You can even go barefoot if you want,” Danny said to forestall the unhappiness he knew Steve was the verge of expressing.

“Fine,” Steve said. “You’ll look like a waiter.”

“Babe,” Danny said, shaking his head. “That was…”

Steve grinned at him before kissing him, ensuring that all was forgiven. “I didn’t mean it.”

“I know. You can’t help yourself,” Danny acknowledged with a indulgent smile. “I swear it’s like having two children.”

Steve shrugged, looking again in the box of horrors. “What is all this?”

“Not to worry. Need to know basis. It’s all on The List,” Danny assured him.

“Don’t I need to know? Isn’t it my wedding too?” Steve asked, trying to sort out what some of the items could possibly be.

“If I tell you, it will just either a) confuse you or b) freak you out. I don’t need either of those right now.” Danny patted him on the arm before picking up the box. “Trust me. It’s better this way.”

“Where are you going?”

“Office. I have phone calls to make. And I need a list from you of everyone you want to invite that I don’t know.”

“If you don’t know them, why would I invite them?”

“Don’t you have any Army buddies you want to invite?” Danny asked.

“Navy. Maybe three or four,” Steve decided.

“Those then. If you know where they are.”

“What about the Governor? Did you invite him already?”

“I didn’t exactly invite him. I asked if he would officiate,” Danny said.

“Did he agree? Even though we are not necessarily two of his favorite people?”

“Me he loves. You not so much,” Danny teased. He put the box on the desk, taking out another folder and extracting a formal looking sheet. “Sign here.”

Steve did it before looking at it. “What is this?”

“Application for marriage license. We need to fill this part out,” Danny said, pointing at the line that said ‘Record married name(s):’ “What are we doing about our last names?”

“You don’t want to be a McGarrett?” Steve teased, kissing him before he could reply.

“I want to be a hyphenated McGarrett. I’m not planning to be the wife in this. Equals. Despite what you want to believe.”

“I never thought you’d be the wife,” Steve assured him.

“Hmm…Even so. I’m not giving up my last name. I’ll connect it to yours. As long as you connect yours to mine. Or did I just say that?”

“I can’t answer that. I stopped listening ten minutes ago,” Steve claimed.

“I haven’t turned in the license application yet. I can still stop this wedding, you know. If that’s what you want with your not listening and your trying to make me the wife and your…. you-ness.”

“My me-ness?” Steve laughed.

“Shut up. Do you want your last name first or mine?”

Steve shrugged. “What do you want?”

Danny put his hand in his pocket, taking out a quarter. “Flip for order?”

“Seems fair. Heads my name goes first. Tails, yours,” Steve suggested.

Danny nodded, flipping it expertly in the air, catching and slapping it on the back of his left hand. “Tails.”

“So we’ll be Williams-McGarretts,” Steve said with a nod.

“Works for me,” Danny agreed. “Okay. #19. Can I trust you to get the forms from the Navy to make me your next of kin?”

“You don’t have to. I already did it,” Steve told him.

“What? How did you do that?”

“Once ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ was repealed, I changed my beneficiary to you. We don’t have to be married to make it official,” Steve told him, his embarrassment apparent. Danny didn’t even bother to pretend he didn’t find Steve’s sudden bashfulness adorable.

“You are something else,” Danny said, reaching up to kiss him. “Thank you.”

“If something happens to us both, then it’s Grace,” Steve said, his cheeks still flushed from the blush he would deny ever having experienced.

Danny could only shake his head at that. “Of course.”

“What else do I need to do?” Steve asked, leaning one hip against the desk to study Danny as he studied The List.

“Do you think we could get new curtains in the living room? Something…brighter?” Danny requested. Changing anything in the house was still a tricky topic although Steve no longer treated it as the shrine it had once been. Baby steps Danny knew was the way to go.

“Those are kind of old,” Steve agreed. “Do you know what you’d like?”

“Not really. Kono volunteered to help if you want. Not that it means we are allowed to treat her like a girl because she will kick our asses if we try. But she does have a good eye for those kinds of things.”

“If she wants to help, I’m all for that,” Steve agreed. “I think we should get a new table and chairs for the kitchen.”

“I’ll put it on the list,” Danny agreed, adding them to the bottom. “I told Kamekona what he served was up to him. To a point. He promised to give us the menu to approve. I said the Spam was to be kept to a bare minimum.”

“And you gave him a budget?” Steve asked out of curiosity.

“I would have. But he’s paying for all the food. As his gift to us.”

“Wow. That’s… wow,” Steve said.

“Eloquent as always, Babe,” Danny teased. “Speaking of eloquent, our own vows or no?”

“Oh God, Danno.”

“So that’s a no. Okay. We’ll use standard Book of Prayer. Keep and cherish. Not blow up. Have to hold. No grenades in the glove compartment.”

“Some of those sound vaguely unfamiliar,” Steve pointed out with a smile that made Danny temporarily forget the topic of conversation.

“Hmm…I thought that’s what they always said. My bad,” Danny said with a shrug. “Do you want Mary as a bridesmaid? She said she would if you want. But she’s okay not.”

“What do you want? Will your sisters be mad?”

“It seems easier to have just Chin and Kono. But if you want Mary, that’s fine by me. My sisters don’t care. They were bridesmaids the first time. That was plenty for them. They said if they don’t have to buy another flouncy dress they’ll never wear again, all the better. And maybe if they aren’t bridesmaids, this marriage will, you know, last.”

“It will,” Steve said. That was apparently an order which Danny and the marriage had no choice but to obey. Not that Danny would ever let Steve get away. Nope, not going to happen.

“I like your thinking. Do you want Mary to be in the bridal party?” Danny asked.

“No,” Steve said. “Chin and Kono. And Gracie of course.”

“Of course,” Danny said.

“Are you letting Step-Stan come?” Steve asked with a lazy smile.

“I guess I’ll have to. Rachel seems determined to come. So…” Danny waved a hand like that explained everything. And maybe it did. “She said their nanny would watch Alicia.”

“Don’t say nanny like it’s a dirty word,” Steve requested. “We may have one someday.”

“To keep you out of trouble?” Danny asked, laughing up at him.

“Whatever it takes, Babe. Rings?” Steve asked, peering carefully at The List.

“Oh. Well. I didn’t think… I mean, I figured you wouldn’t wear one.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I want you to wear one to keep you safe from predatory men and women who eye-hump you every time we’re outside of this house.”

“That’s you not me,” Danny said. “When we go to Alexander’s studio, we can go to the jeweler’s next door. They should be able to suggest something appropriate.”

“Sounds good,” Steve said, straightening and stretching.

“You’re done with me now, aren’t you?” Danny asked with a knowing smile.

“Do you need me?”

“No. Go clean your guns. Finish the catapult for the boiling oil. Or reinforce the armaments on the roof,” Danny said, waving him away.

“One day you’ll be glad those gun turrets are there,” Steve said, kissing Danny on top of the head before wandering away.

“I feel sure that I will. Today is not that day,” Danny told Steve’s back, listening to his vanishing laugh.

~o0o~

After dinner and drinks and their friends had left, Steve and Danny lay curled together in bed. They were both teetering on sleep but not quite ready to fall over. Steve had one long arm flung over Danny’s waist, Danny drawing invisible patterns on Steve’s broad chest.

“Chairs?” Steve asked.

“#32,” Danny responded, yawning.

“A cake?”

“#2.”

“Plates. Napkins. Cups?”

“#24.”

“Champagne? And other libations?”

“#11. Libations? Who says libations?”

“Really #11? Or are you just making it up?” Steve asked, drawing back enough to see Danny’s face. It revealed nothing and Danny just smiled, a secret, innocent smile. “I have means of making you talk. Don’t doubt that I do.”

“Humff,” Danny snorted. “You think you scare me but you don’t.”

“I should,” Steve tried.

“I know, Babe. You are a very scary Navy man. I’ll work on being scared just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.”

“Will you add to The List?” Steve asked with a kiss.

“Consider it done,” Danny agreed, smiling lazily at him. “Now go to sleep.”