dann_0 | PSL: Sentinel AU

"Good! I wonder how he's going to take finding out that Charlie's not his..." For all Steve knows, the other man is already aware and doesn't care. Danny is an exception to fatherly concern as far as Steve is concerned. "Not that I'm all that concerned if it causes issues in their marriage. Rachel's gotten used to living the lifestyle, I'm sure she'll do what she can to keep it." Steve's about to say they'll go for full-time custody of the kids, but he stops himself. That's not his place. Instead he asks, "You like kids?"

Steve looks over at Eliot with a raised eyebrow. "You don't cut any corners!" Not that he's complaining. The grin on Eliot's face tells him that the man enjoys his work and gets a good deal of satisfaction out of. He has no trouble understanding why if it's all about sticking it to people who get away with more than they should. His eyes move back to the road. "It shouldn't be a problem for me to get the van. Especially if I promise I'm not going to blow this one up." He smiles himself at that. Maybe he shouldn't but he's quite proud of his reputation.

Coming around a corner he pulls into a small diner with a sign over the door that screams 'mom and pop shop'. "It doesn't look like much," he juts his chin out towards the building, "but they cook everything from scratch and without a lot of oils and extras. It's one of the few places I can eat without either dialing my sense of taste down to nothing or getting sick after."

"So long as it doesn't fuck over Danny, I gotta admit I don't much care either," Eliot admits, voice tight. "Just wanna make sure he gets to be a father to his kids." Eliot's barely known Danny over a week and it's already clear how much he adores his little girl, and how important fatherhood is to him, the fact his ex is denying him the right to be a father to his son is indefensible.

"Kids?" Eliot shrugs a little, refusing to read into the question. "Yeah. I mean, I haven't spent a lot of time around them, but I like them well enough. Even wanted a couple once upon a time." Back before he'd realized that there was no way in hell he could have anything like a normal life. Before he'd become a monster.

"Yeah, well, about ninety percent of sellin' a con is gettin' the details right. Little details'll niggle at someone, make them suspicious." And this needs to go off smooth on the first try. "Blow it up? Seriously?" Eliot snorts in amusement. "Yeah, lets try an' avoid that."

He looks at their destination and nods. "Some of the best food I've had all over the world's been little hole in the wall places. Don't need t'be fancy t'be good." Especially with their built in biases and limitations. "I can eat just about anything if I have to-" And he's had to more times than he likes to remember. "But fresh and unprocessed is definitely my go to when I get a choice. This place sounds perfect."

"I expect Rachel will try to place the blame for all of this on Danny's shoulders. That seems to be her modus operandi. It won't be that she kept it a secret, but that he exposed it and then made a big deal about it." Steve liked her well enough when he met her, but he doesn't appreciate the way she treats Danny. With any luck she's smart enough to realize that even without Stan they will make her life miserable if she doesn't treat Danny fairly.

Steve nods, he gets it. "I was terrible with kids before Grace, but she's easy to be around, and she's made it easier for me to be around other kids. At least ones her age." He bites his lip and frowns a moment. "I don't have a clue in what to do with a kid Charlie's age." There's no doubt he'll figure it out, or Grace will show him. He's reassured that Eliot is at least open to the idea of being around children. Grace is easy to love so that really all she needs to get fully settled in and have Eliot wrapped around her finger.

"I swear none of them were intentional... Well except the time I drove the police car onto the moving cargo ship... I knew the car wasn't going to survive that, but in my defense I didn't blow it up either." It was just full of bullet holes and the 'Dukes of Hazzard' jump to get the car on the freighter had messed up the frame. He shrugged and grinned, that's what carpool loaners were for though - the times that were too dangerous to use their regular vehicles. "But yeah, I don't think that's really a risk this time around."

From the time Steve had become a sentinel he'd always been a picky eater. He can force himself to eat what's available if need be, but he's much prefers foods high in natural fats and nutrients - fish, dark colored veggies, nuts. All that being said, he also likes MRE's which doesn't fully make sense but with how much time he's spent in the field it was either grow to like them or go without.

Inside the restaurant is about half full, free tables scattered about. An older woman of Hawaiian heritage smiles in acknowledgment of Steve and watches where they sit. Once she's done with the table she was helping she brings menus for them and fresh coffee. "I recommend the pancakes with the pineapple syrup, but everything on the menu is fantastic."

"Yeah, well, that's why we need t'make sure we've got proof for him up front: so she can't guilt him for daring to accuse her." Because a week is long enough to have realized that Danny will tie himself into knots to avoid hurting the people he cares about, and his ex is clearly still on that list. But when it comes to his kids... well, Eliot can't see him just writing his son off to avoid inconveniencing his ex-wife, no matter how much he might still care about her.

"Babies are easy." He shrugs. "Change 'em, feed 'em, talk to them lots an' give 'em things to look at. It's when they get older they get t'be more of a handful, but more interesting t'be around too." An assessment that makes it clear he's had at least some experience with both babies and older kids.

"Dukes of Hazzard?" He smirks and shakes his head, amused. "Seriously?" It's easy, just hanging out talking with Steve, to not think about the fact that he's Danny's, that no matter what the Guide thinks or wants, that there is going to be an inevitable tension between them and their needs and how Danny meets them both. He likes the guy, can relate to his experiences and his outlook, but he's also the reason Eliot's likely going to end up going not so slowly crazy on his own again sooner or later.

Eliot follows Steve into the restaurant, automatically scoping it out for lines of sight and possible escape routes, and when they settle into a booth he takes a seat that lets him keep an eye on everything. He glances briefly at the menu and sips his coffee--remarkably decent and not burnt--then decides to just go with Steve's recommendation when the waitress comes back.

"So, since you're good with me connin' my way in I can have Hardison set it up for this afternoon. Get in, get some hair or a dirty diaper or somethin', an' get it to a local lab for rush testing. From there it's just tellin' Danny an' laying the options out for him so he can decide how he wants t'handle it."

"That she lied about something like this is going to devastate him. I'm hoping that will help him avoid the guilt and push for what he deserves." And, he'll have Eliot and his support through all of this. It's a relief to Steve to know that Eliot is already behind Danny on this. That the prospect of two kids and a fight with the ex-wife isn't enough to scare him off. Danny told him that he and the distance were Eliot's biggest concerns and he's hoping that he's putting to rest the one and he'll help take care of the other.

"See, it's the changing and feeding that concern me." He chuckles lightly. "The first time Grace ate at my place she had to explain that children her age didn't really like grilled ahi and steamed veggies, that it was too boring. We ended up ordering pizza." A smile lights up his face with the memory. "You'll like Gracie. She's a lot like her father but without the rants, temper, and the waving arms."

Steve grinned and nodded. "Seriously. Getting rid of the high end criminal element tends to come with a fair amount of destruction." He shrugged. As far as Steve was concerned it was just an element of his job. It wasn't that he tried to blow things up, and a lot of the time it wasn't him that either caused the explosion or shot something all to hell, but those he was after. "But we do get the job done. Crime rate has gone down considerably since Five-O came into being and our conviction rate is high. Half that time we operated under a corrupt politician, but we cleaned that up along with the corruption in the police department. Not to mention bringing down the Yakuza and preventing the Jersey mob from setting up shop." He's proud of their accomplishments.

After they both place their orders, Steve sips his coffee and gives most of his attention to Eliot, the rest is keeping an eye on the doors and the other patrons, watching and listening for any signs of something out of place. "Sounds good." He nods in agreement. "So far you haven't suggested doing anything I don't approve of." There's no reason for him to shut things down or ask for things to be done a different way as far as he can see. "If you don't have a lab lined up, there's someone I can ask in the crime lab. He's a good guy and has done things for us on the down low before - quick and discreet."

"Yeah, that's-" He pauses and shakes his head, scowling. "Fuck that. I could see it if he was abusive or toxic." But he's clearly not. She's keeping him in the dark to shield herself, and Eliot can't shake the low level simmering rage over that. It's going to make dealing with her on the con challenging, but he knows he can manage.

"Dunno, man, haven't really seen the rants or temper yet," he has to admit, which... aches a bit, honestly. The reminder that he doesn't know Danny all that well, not compared to the Sentinel who's been his partner and best friend for heading towards three years now. "Gotta feeling that's likely to change in pretty short order, though." His lips twitch up into a wry smile, because he's pretty sure Danny's going to have an assortment of very strong opinions on their weekend's activities... and Eliot's career.

"Great, we'll use your guy, then. My partner's got a couple options lined up that'd do us a rush job for the right price, but if you've got someone you know and trust that's always better." He pulls out his phone and taps out a message to Hardison before going back to his coffee, somewhat more relaxed than usual with the knowledge that someone just as keyed up as him is keeping an eye out as well. "Okay, told Hardison it's a go on the security system for this afternoon. He'll get back t'me with the details on where we need to be an' when as soon as he's got the time frame worked out."

"You will," Steve says with a knowing grin. "Danny's probably the most passionate person I know. He uses an array of emotions to their full extent. The day we met, he decked me." Steve could still feel the ache in his jaw from that punch but he's still grinning. "Although to be fair, I had gotten him shot. I expect you've gotten to know a different side of him." A side of him Steve doesn't and will never get to know. That thought has him looking away from Eliot and their table to survey the crowd in the restaurant as the grin fades.

In the far corner of the restaurant is a booth with what looks to Steve like a family. Father and daughter, a little girl maybe about the age of three, are facing him and he can see she's not happy - her arms are crossed with her head down and from what he can see her face is a scowl. The father doesn't look all that happy himself as he leans over and appears to be lecturing her. Mostly out of curiosity, but also concern, Steve increases his hearing and focuses it in their direction. It turns out to be just a normal scolding. What fascinates Steve though and keeps his attention is the little girl. She starts turning red and it looks to him like she might be holding her breath. Starting to become concerned he focuses his hearing more on her, it sounds like she's inhaling, but it doesn't stop with a normal breath.

Still listening to Eliot, Steve nods and pulls out his cell phone to text Charlie Fong. His hearing is still directed at the child, expecting her to pass out or start choking and wanting to be ready to assist should that happen. Once the text is sent, he looks briefly at Eliot, "Sounds good. I've sent Fong a text, he's used to us needing him at odd hours so I should hear back if he's available relatively quickly."

Steve's not used to being around children, certainly not children who throw tantrums so he is in no way prepared when this little three year old in pigtails suddenly tilts her head back, opens her mouth and lets out a high pitched scream. With his hearing so finely tuned and sensitive on her the noise just cuts through his head, like an explosion going off in his ear. The impact of the noise startles him, throwing him back in his seat. His face contorts in pain as his hands come up to cover his ears.

Eliot barks out a startled laugh at Steve's explanation, eyes crinkling slightly as he grins at the image. "Yeah, I guess I prob'ly have," he agrees, applying himself to his coffee as Steve looks away again in fairly clear discomfort. And that's what stops him from saying anything about having plenty of time to learn the rest, because there's no point in rubbing the guy's nose in the situation... especially since god knows how long it'll actually last, anyway.

He follows the direction of Steve's sudden interest, looking over his shoulder briefly at a father and daughter across the restaurant, then leaving Steve to whatever's caught his attention as he drinks his coffee. "Great. I'd like t'have the results to show him by tomorrow if possible, just... get it out there an' help him figure out how to handle it." And by then Hardison should have anything even remotely useful on the ex and her new husband.

The waitress returns with their food and Eliot thanks her and starts to dig in, just as piercing screech rips through the room and Steve reacts almost like he's been shot. Eliot winces in pain, but he hadn't really been paying the pair any mind, his hearing dialed down to its lowest resting level since there wasn't anything in the room demanding his attention. He knows exactly how Steve feels, though, and he leans in to try and catch his eye. He doesn't say anything, though, there's no point when the other Sentinel's obviously just gotten an ice pick right to the brain.

For several seconds, Steve is lost in sensation. The scream was piercing enough that he can feel a zone threatening but as only one sense was over-stimulated, he knows he should be able to pull himself out of it. One of the benefits of military training - a sentinel who zoned off of one sense wasn't very useful in the field, even with a guide, therefore that was one of the first things they trained him how to manage.

His instinctual reaction is to pull his hearing back as quickly as possible but he knows from experience that leads to other problems. Instead he sticks his fingers in his ears to block out the sound as much as possible. While it feels like his ear drums are being torn apart he knows that's not the case. Physically his ears didn't become more sensitive and are just fine, this is literally all in his head.. Focusing on the pain, he forces himself to take a breath deeply - in for four, hold for four, out for four, then repeat. Once he gets the pattern down he links his auditory perception to the internal counting and uses that to bring his hearing back into a more normal, then low, range.

Once he has things under control, taking under a minute, he removes his fingers from his ears and opens his eyes. It takes another second to orientated himself. He feels out of sorts and now has a splitting headache, but the zone has backed off. He's fine. A couple of aspirin wouldn't go amiss, but otherwise, he's fine. Quickly looking around, no one really seems to have noticed his odd behaviour, no one except Eliot that is.

Pulling a small pill container out of one of his cargo pants pockets he takes two aspirin with a drink of water before meeting the other man's eyes. "Well, that wasn't fun." Scrunching up his face, he pushes himself to think past the pain. "Uh... You were saying... Having the results for tomorrow. Yeah... I think that should be doable if we can connect with Fong this afternoon." His phone pings and he looks down to read the message and nods. "He's on board. We just need to text him when we have the samples."

Eliot watches Steve intently, though without seeming to, as the other man works to get himself back under control. The measured breathing is a relief, proof that he's managing to keep himself from disappearing into his own head, and after a moment Eliot starts eating. They're less likely to draw attention this way than if he sits there staring at Steve.

He pushes Steve's water glass a little closer to him when he finally drops his hands and opens his eyes again, figuring a drink might help at least a little bit. "Yeah, was bad enough as it was from my end," he agrees quietly. If he'd been dialed in tight on it the way Steve obviously had been it would have been excruciating. Eliot doesn't bother asking Steve if he's all right, though. He clearly isn't, but he'll just as clearly function anyway, the way they've both been trained to.

Eliot's phone pings not long after and he reads Hardison's latest message. "Okay, if we can be ready by eleven he can have things ready t'go," he tells Steve after scanning it. "That enough time to get our hands on a van and hit the print shop he's sent the logos to?"

With the food in front of him, Steve slowly starts to eat. Nothing quite smells or tastes right, but he knows that's a result of the headache, not the food itself. Messing too much with his other senses right now, after being overwhelmed and with his current headache, without the help of a guide though is definitely a mistake. He'll just deal for the time being.

When Eliot's phone pings again, Steve gives up on the food and pushes his dish away half eaten. "Plan for about thirty minutes to get the van from the yard..." He looks at his watching, adding in travel time and estimating time to get the logos. "Yeah I don't see why not." He finishes his coffee in a swallow. "You about ready to go?"

Pulling out his wallet he takes out a twenty dollar bill and leaves it on the table. That should more than cover their breakfast and leave a good tip.

Eliot probably shouldn't be surprised at how easy it is to work with Steve. They're both highly trained professionals and aware of the basics of each other's abilities and limitations, and the whole process is almost ridiculously smooth.

Steve procures them an unmarked van with a minimum of fuss, they pick up the magnetic decals Hardison's already got waiting for them at a nearby print shop then park in an alley for Steve to do a quick job of slapping them on, while Eliot changes into the appropriate one of the uniforms Hardison had packed into the garment bag for him. There's a tablet computer and a small tool kit tucked into the bag as well, so he looks like he's actually prepared to work on the system.

They're in position and waiting when Hardison spikes the system, rerouting the alarm signal so their provider never has a clue it's been activated, then calls them himself to apologize for the malfunction and arrange for an immediate service call. From there it takes less than half an hour for him to con his way in, make appropriate noises about needing to check all the cameras and alarms, and manage to shake his escort as Rachel loses interest in following him from room to room in favor of going back to work on something in the kitchen... which gives him the minute he needs to (jesus, how is this his life?!) retrieve a soiled diaper from the pail in the nursery, shove it into a ziplock, and bury it in the bottom of his tool kit. He kills ten more minutes pretending to check the rest of the cameras, hooks Hardison's tablet up to the system and waits while the hacker reboots it remotely and pronounces their problem solved, then makes his escape with Rachel none the wiser. Though, christ, Steve hadn't been kidding: he didn't even need to pick the kid up to catch the distinctive scent that clearly identified him as Danny's, and it took all of Eliot's self-control not to bristle and snatch the kid away.

Having to retrieve the dirty diaper is almost worth it for the looks on both Steve and his lab tech buddy's faces when he pulls it out and they realize where the DNA's going to have to come from. "Once this is sorted out, Danny'd better appreciate that I went fishin' in a damn diaper pail for that, is all I'm gonna say," Eliot's saying as they head back into 5-0's offices, grinning and bumping his shoulder companionably against Steve's. "'Cause that was some serious toxic waste."

"Who could imagine that a child that small could produce so much... And the smell..." Steve is still trying to get the smell of poop out of his nostrils, but he's grinning as Eliot bumps his shoulder. Besides the headache he hasn't been able to shake since the screaming banshee at the restaurant that morning, they've had a pretty damn good day and he's happy with their progress.

Working with Eliot has been exceptionally easy. Much easier than Steve would have suspected considering they are both sentinels. The territorial competitive nature that he's been lead to believe prevents them from being on the same team just isn't there. It's not only that though. Eliot is simply easy to get along with, even enjoyable to be with. Instead of feeling like they've just met and are in competition for a guide, it feels more like Eliot is an old teams buddy who he worked extensively with but hasn't seen in a few years - they've picked up like no time has passed. Its been companionable and better than he could have hoped for.

"I'm going to owe Fong big time for this!" He jokes. "But you could smell it too, couldn't you? The scent that's distinctly Danny." Steve may have known Danny longer, but he expects Eliot has already ingrained his scent, and likely has a sentinel reaction off of it as well. Reaching the main office, Steve opens the door for Eliot. There's no doubt in Steve's mind that Charlie is Danny's. He doesn't need Eliot or a DNA test to confirm it but he's not really asking for confirmation either. It's more that they are partners in this. This is something that they could do for Danny together, and if they could do this, maybe they could share the guide aspect as well. It's a hope he didn't really have before. A situation that still wasn't ideal, but maybe they could make work.

Eliot huffs a laugh at Steve's reaction, eyes crinkling with amusement. "You weren't the one that had t'open up a diaper pail full of 'em and fish one out," he points out, grinning easily. He'd almost forgotten what it was like, working with someone who knows what he is and can do, not having to fake at being normal. It's... nice, even if it's not nice enough to ever be worth letting the military find out about him again.

"Yeah." He sobers at the question. "I didn't even need t'get close to him to catch it." And he pushes a hand through his hair, frustrated. It had pinged every possessive, protective instinct he has, to smell Danny on the kid, and leaving him there had been hard. "Kinda wanted to just grab him and run," he admits, frowning and following Steve through the door before heading for Danny's office.

Clasping a hand on Eliot's shoulder, Steve grins. "It's a dirty job, and I'm so very thankfully that you had to do it and it wasn't me!" One diaper was bad enough, smelling a whole pail of them. Steve would have needed a hell of a lot of Vicks to get him through that. He's finding the same, it feels good to be able to be himself without having to hide or watch what he says so others don't figure out he's different and to joke actually about it. It's not enough though to go back to active duty for though, it wasn't the same there anyway.

Steve nods. "Yeah, I understand that. Letting Grace go back to her mother's and seeing how much Danny misses her..." It takes all that he has not to go get her and hide her away just for Danny at times, especially when Rachel messes up their schedule or books fun things for her to do with her friends on his weekends.

Getting to Danny's office first, Steve opens the door and heads inside. The smell hits him right away but his momentum gets him into the room before he's trying to figure out what exactly it is he's smelling. It's Danny, but not in a way he's used to smelling Danny. Second to touch, smell is Steve's strongest sense. When focused, he can break down the different particles in the air and identify individual components. Normally it's not something he'd get that detailed with without a guide but that scent... It teases at him, pulls him in. Perhaps if he didn't still have a headache and his hearing wasn't already off from the screaming banshee this morning, or if he'd been getting any sleep the past couple of nights, or he'd actually spent any quality time with his guide beyond a few minutes on the couch in the last week, not to mention the worry about Charlie's parentage and the new guide/sentinel arrangements that had been playing on his mind, perhaps if it wasn't all of those things combined he may have realized that he was slipping down the rabbit hole known as a zone. But, as it was, he didn't realize any of the usually warning signs. Instead he was completely focused on identifying exactly what that strange scent was.

"Oh fuck you, man," Eliot answers, shaking his head and still laughing. "Joke'll be on you when he gets visitation outa this an' those diapers start gettin' filled in your house." Which... doesn't ache quite as much to think about as it would have just last night, or even this morning. Eliot's still not happy about the fact that he and Danny live twenty-five hundred miles apart, and are likely to continue doing so, or that Danny lives with Steve, but it feels at least a little less threatening.

He pads quietly into Danny's office behind Steve, inhaling deeply as he turns to hang his garment bag up on the back of the door. "Yeah, he talked about her a lot this week. Pretty clear bein' a dad's the most important thing in his life." Which... Eliot had found remarkably endearing, and is one of the reasons he hadn't hesitated to hop on a plane and come help Steve sort this out.

He turns back to Steve, planning to drop onto the couch, bask in Danny's scent a bit, and talk through just how they're going to go about breaking the news to Danny once they have the rest results, but he stops at the sight of the other man just standing there, unmoving. "Hey, Steve."

Eliot walks around so he can see his face, careful to stay out of arm's reach just in case, and grimaces as he sees the blank look on Steve's face. "Fuck." It comes out as a growl and his eyes dart to the open bag on top of his duffel. It might not be the culprit, but he figures it can't be helping under the circumstances. "Hey, man. I'm just gonna close this up, okay." He keeps his voice low, warm, soothing. Trying to be something to focus on, though he doubts it'll do much good coming from him. But it's better than leaving Steve in silence, even if he doesn't really have any idea what the other Sentinel might be hearing, locked inside his own head. "Then we're gonna sit you down on the couch... an' then I'm gonna call Danny, okay?"

He's moving as he talks, basically narrating his actions as he seals the ziplock and shoves it back in his bag, then approaches Steve slowly and from the front. "Just gonna put a hand on your arm and help you to the couch," he tells Steve, and reaches out to match action to words.

Steve's face gets a goofy happy smile to it at the idea of having Danny's son in their home. Children aren't something he's expecting to have of his own but he's very much enjoying being an uncle to Grace. Having another to spoil doesn't sound like a bad thing to him in the slightest.

In Danny's office, Eliot's words fade till he doesn't hear them at all. There's no noise where he's at. It's peaceful and quiet. Visually he has no sense of either. Touch and smell are there but in a far distant sort of way. The scent he's chasing has a taste, a flavor but it's the only flavor on his radar. It's familiar and comfortable. The smell makes him feel relaxed and at ease. He knows he should be able to figure out what it is but... Then, in a sudden change, it intensifies then nearly vanishes. He's chasing those hard to find particles. He needs more. He can have more he just needs to focus.

In the outside world, Steve's face is blank. His breathing is deep and once the baggy closes it becomes longer on the inhale, using his full lung capacity. When Eliot touches his arm he doesn't flinch or react. He is pliable to Eliot's manipulations however and easily moves to the couch and sits when the back of his knees hit the edge and Eliot pushes him into a seated position. There's no indication he's tracking anything at all.

Eliot gets him settled down on the sofa and then crouches in front of him, hands looped lightly at his wrists for a point of contact and searching his face for any indication that he's not completely lost to the zone. Unfortunately it's pretty damn clear that the lights are on but nobody's home, and Eliot curses again under his breath.

"Okay, darlin', just sit tight an' I'm gonna get you some help," he murmurs, rubbing his left hand lightly up and down Steve's forearm as he reaches for his cell phone with his right. Physical contact has always been one of the easiest ways to help him out of a zone, and while he doesn't expect to have any real success with it he can't not try.

He's already got Danny in his speed dial, so it's only a moment before the phone's ringing. He just hopes like hell he's somewhere that he can answer. And that he can drop whatever he's doing with Grace and come.

Danny's with Kono and Grace at the breach, the two girls are talking about surfboards just then. They've been out in the surf a few times already, Danny going with them too. He is proud of his girl and even if he doesn't like the water, she clearly does and he can live with that. When his phone rings and he sees who it is he excuses himself and takes a few steps away.

"Hi babe, missed me already?"

Ah shit, Eliot can't help the way his breath catches and his eyes slip half shut at the sound of Danny's voice. It's like every last fibre of him is straining towards the Guide, and he has to take a slow, deep breath to ground himself again before he can answer.

"You know it, sweetheart, but... that's not why I'm callin'." His voice is rough and a little strained, and he's rubbing his thumb gently over the pulse at Steve's wrist as he speaks, even as he listens for Danny's pulse and the sound of his breathing on the other end of the line. "I need you... I need you t'come to your office. I'll explain why I'm here later, but right now... Steve's gone an' zoned out on me, and you need t'come pull him out of it."

"What? You're in Hawaii? And with Steve? What? Why? Eliot.." He swallows, his mind racing and his heartbeat picking up. "Alright... Alright. Take his hand and place it on your heart or on your belly and try to get him to focus on your breath or your heart. That helps." He walks over to where Kono and Grace is.

"Hi Kono. I need to drop by the office, Steve's having a rough day." Kono knows enough to know what that means. "Mind watching Gracie for a bit?" At Kono's affermative he crouches down to Grace. "Hi monkey. Danno's gotta go see uncle Steve for a bit, but Auntie Kono will take you to Kamekona's for some shaved ice, alright? And then when we get home you can have anything you want for dinner. Deal?" There is an excited "Yes!" from someone who can only be Grace.

Then Danny grab his stuff and his keys, well the keys to Steve's truck and heads towards it. He pulls a shirt over his boardshorts. "You and I are going to have a serious talk, Eliot. You know that right? Steve's in the office?"

"Take a breath, sweetheart," Eliot murmurs at the sound of Danny's heartrate picking up. "He's safe, I got him, he's just zoned."

He does as Danny suggests, lifting Steve's hand and settling it over his heart, making sure to keep his own breathing deep and even as he listens to Danny's conversation. His breath catches a little at the sound of what must be Grace's voice, frustrated at the idea of ruining Danny's afternoon with his daughter, but even moreso at the knowledge of what he's missing with his son.

"Yeah, well, that was gonna be happenin' anyway," he points out quietly, sounding resigned as he glances up at Steve's face to see if there's any indication that hearing Danny's voice through the phone is helping him at all. "Yeah. He's safe, I just doubt I'll have much luck trying t'pull him out of this. I'm gonna put this on speaker, in case hearin' your voice helps him."

Steve doesn't hear Danny through the phone at all. In a zone, his focus is reduced to what he zoned on and a distant sense of touch. The scent isn't as strong, but its still there, hanging faintly in the room and Steve is determined to figure out what it is. To the point where he's mentally lost in a world of broken down particles.

Internally he has no conscious awareness of what's happening externally. Unconsciously however he can feel the heat from Eliot's body under his hand, causing his fingers to gently twitch. The heartbeat is felt underneath those fingers, along with the rhythm of Eliot's breathing and slowly Steve's breathing starts to change to fall into sync with it. It's not an instant transition, but that takes place over several minutes. Once his breathing adjusts his heartbeat follow suit.

Danny mutters something as he jingles with the car keys. "I'll be there in ten minutes. You think you can keep him there that long? He doesn't usually do much. At least not outwardly." But it isn't hard to tell that Steve is going through hell whenever he zones.

The truck's engine roars as Danny turns to drive out. "Hey Steve, babe, can you hear me? I'll be there in a second alright, don't do anything stupid. Eliot will take care of you." He drives fast and more than a little dangerously to get there, Steve's bee a bad influence. But it is only seven or so minutes when he runs up the stairs to their offices. Once he is inside he glances around, at first going for Steve's office and then frowning when he sees them in his. He ducks inside and places a hand on Eliot's shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. He might be curious and frustrated, but he is also glad to see the Sentinel.

Then he turns his attention to Steve, moving to sit on the couch next to him and reaching out to pull him close, to pull his head onto his shoulders. He knows Steve likes the scent of him. "Hey babe, I'm here, I got you. You're safe." He strokes Steve's neck with one hand and with the other reaches out to place it on Eliot's shoulder again, making sure he knows he is not forgotten.

"We'll be right here, he's not going anywhere." Even if Steve manages to snap out of it, which seems unlikely, they'll be waiting here for Danny's arrival.

Eliot switches the phone over to speaker and sets it on the arm of the couch, then focuses on Steve as well. Uses one hand to hold Steve's pressed over his heart and curls the other back around Steve's wrist, gently stroking over his pulse. He takes some comfort from the fact he can feel Steve's breathing slowly syncing with his, and then his heart rate following. He doesn't say anything else, though, knowing Danny's voice is infinitely more likely to help than his own.

He considers going to find something in the office that smells particularly strongly of Danny, but he doesn't want to lose what progress he's made in Steve seeming at least subconsciously aware of his presence, so he's still crouched on the floor at the other Sentinel's feet when he hears Danny's footsteps approaching, familiar already, and then his heartbeat once he reaches the hall to 5-0's office. He draws in a slightly shuddering breath as Danny opens the outer office door and he can catch his scent, fresh and sharp... and frustrated, worried, and confused.

He glances up when Danny enters, working hard to keep the sudden, vibrating tension at bay. The need to get up and go to him. To touch. To taste. He stays where he is, though, breathing still careful and steady and deep, Steve's hand pressed to his heart which hasn't so much as skipped because he won't let it. His eyes drop half-shut, though, and he leans almost imperceptibly into the touch for the fraction of a second that Danny squeezes his shoulder... and then he sits back on his haunches and looks away as Danny sits on the couch and pulls Steve against him, settles the taller man's head on his shoulder and strokes his neck.

Eliot called Danny here, he knows he needs to be here, needs to help Steve, but that doesn't make it easy. He's about to take Steve's hand from his own chest and press it to Danny's, to stand up and move away and give the pair of them privacy for this, when Danny's free hand drops onto his shoulder again and he freezes in place, chin dropping to his chest and breath shuddering out raggedly. He should stand up, should leave, but he can't make himself move away from that touch, and what he finds himself doing instead, without conscious volition, is shifting to lean against Danny's legs, Steve's hand still pressed lightly over his heart.

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Re: Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Re: Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Re: Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Re: Steve Call to Eliot

Re: Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot

Re: Steve Call to Eliot

Steve Call to Eliot