Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Author's Note: Your reviews were so amazing that it pushed me to write this chapter and post it tonight. I can't thank you enough for your amazing reviews from beginning to end. It's been a fantastic ride and I hope this ending gives you everything you wanted!

"Steven, are you trying to tell me that you love me?" Danny asked a curiously nervous smile splayed across his face. Steve waits, staring at Danny searching every inch of his face for a clue as to if Danny's feeling this or not.

"Well Danno…" Steve started tossing his piece of pizza back in the box before shifting down closer to Danny. "What if I am?" Steve asks placing the ball right back in Danny's court. He knows that this conversation is not going to be easy and he might not get the immediate response he wants, but it's the conversation that needs to be had.

"This isn't a game Steven." Danny replies wanting a straight answer from him. He's much too tired to beat around the bush.

"I know Danny, I'm just checking to see how you feel about me trying to tell you that." Steve reasons reaching forward to rest his hand on Danny's forearm. They probably shouldn't be having this conversation after such a grueling week, but Steve's tired of waiting.

"We need coffee because I don't think this conversation is going to be a short one." Steve nods squeezing Danny's arm before getting up and making his way to the kitchen. Danny takes a deep breath waiting a few moments before getting up and following Steve into the kitchen.

"You know how I felt about you, no still feel about you. But I'm not entirely sure that I know what's going on with you. I need you for once to talk about your feelings and tell me everything Steve." Danny almost pleads leaning back against the counter right in front of Steve. Steve runs a tired hand through his hair and takes a deep breath listening to the coffee maker come to life right behind him.

"I'll tell you everything you need and want to hear, Danny. But you have to promise to let me talk, without interrupting and just listen to what I'm saying. Don't make up your mind until you've heard everything I have to say. Promise me Danny." Steve begs his hopeful yet nervous eyes locking onto Danny's. He needs to know that Danny will let him get everything out. Danny nods shifting so that he's sitting on the countertop, he has a feeling they'll be here awhile. Steve pushes off of the counter and begins to pace in front of Danny. "In the beginning, I'll admit I didn't necessarily feel anything romantic for you. At least I most likely wasn't ready to admit to it. But then everything went to hell between us and I panicked. If I couldn't even be a good best friend, how the hell was I going to be a good boyfriend? I mean shit; I've never had a successful relationship besides hooking up here and there. Plus we are such polar opposites in some regards and at times we didn't make any sense. So I thought for your own good I should distance myself from you, because you deserve a hell of a lot better than me especially after everything that I've done. But then I saw how hurt you were the night we talked and it broke my heart Danny. It killed me to see that I had hurt you that much when I thought I was doing the best for you." Steve paused taking a deep breath and trying to keep his thoughts together. He has possibly one chance at this and he's determined to make the most of it.

Danny reaches out laying his hand on Steve's shoulder and giving him a gentle squeeze, silently telling him to take his time. There's no rush with this, they have all night if they need it. Steve smiles and relaxes a little bit standing in front of Danny, his hands resting lightly on his thighs. "It didn't hit me until I left for drills that maybe the feelings I had for you went deeper than friendship and because I was too scared to ruin what we had more than I already had, I decided to push my feelings away. I couldn't lose you completely in case we didn't work, I thought that if you really knew me and spent even more time with me you'd finally see the mistake you'd made and I couldn't let that happen. I'd rather have you as a friend than as nothing at all." Danny's hand still holding Steve's shoulder squeezed tightly when Steve mentioned Danny leaving and Steve had to chuckle quietly at that. "Yeah Danno, I know it was a stupid thing to think, Mary said as much too. But still you understand why I'd think that right?" Danny nodded following Steve's only command of not interrupting him; he needed to hear everything that had brought them to this moment. "Speaking of drills, you know I was on the same ship as Catherine, but I want you to know that nothing happened. I didn't sleep with her and I broke off our friends with benefits thing." Danny felt himself relax.

The coffee maker beeped behind them grabbing the attention of both. Steve turned reaching for two cups and quickly making them each a cup before turning back to Danny. When their fingers brushed this time Danny reached out and held Steve's hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. He needed Steve to know that he wasn't going anywhere. Steve took a large sip of the hot liquid and set his cup down, his hands resting back on Danny's thighs. "When I got back from drills, you seemed to be much better as if you were starting to get over what had happened between us and when I saw how close you and Kono were, it hurt like hell. I knew in that moment the first morning I got back, that you were replacing me in your life. You didn't need me anymore and I had lost the best damn thing that had ever happened to me and I realized with some help from Chin, that I needed to figure out what I wanted and fast."

Danny smiled and shook his head; leave it to Chin to knock some sense into Steve. It also hurt Danny to know that seeing him with Kono had made Steve think he could be replaceable, because try as Danny might he could never replace Steve in his life. "Whoa babe, back up for a minute yeah I know I promised not to interrupt but I have to okay?" Steve nodded using this time to take another sip of his coffee, the caffeine doing wonders to calm his nerves. "Kono did not replace you in anyway, because you my crazy Neanderthal Navy SEAL are irreplaceable. You got that?" Danny asked lightly jabbing Steve's chest with his finger.

"Yeah Danno I got it. Can I continue or do you have anything else that can't wait?" Danny lightly pushed Steve muttering under his breath something about Steve's ass before motioning for him to continue by pretending to zip his lips and toss away the key. "Alright so where was I? Oh yeah that night at the bar. Do you remember that night at the bar where some surfer approached you? Well that night was when it finally clicked that I was in love with you. I felt such intense jealously coursing through my body as I watched that beach bum put his giant paws on you and don't lie and say you didn't enjoy it. Because I saw the smile you flashed at him before you walked away and that was not a simple smile, and that pissed me off. I wanted to be the one that got that smile, to be the one that got to put my hands on you." Danny chuckled and glanced down at his thighs where one of Steve's hands was gripping lightly. Steve's eyes followed and he squeezed making Danny tense his muscles. "But still I knew my timing was shitty, I knew that I was royally fucked and had no idea how to even tell you how I felt, you know how I get when there are feelings and talking involved."

"Yes I do, my romantically stunted friend." Danny interrupted not being able to control himself. Steve shook his head.

"So much for being quiet." Steve joked looking down into Danny's empty cup and motioning if he wanted more. Danny just scoffed and lightly hit the back of Steve's knee with his foot, making his knee give out and send Steve falling slightly into Danny.

"Serves you right and it's not my fault you should know better than to think that I can remain quiet for that long. And yes I would like more coffee please." Danny ended with a sweet smile on his face as he held out his cup to Steve. "I mean really Steven, in all our time as partners how long have I ever stayed completely silent?" Steve paused tilting his head in thought before he gave up and conceded that maybe Danny was right. "Plus don't lie; you love the sound of my voice." Danny joked as Steve yet again handed him his cup making sure that his fingers touched Danny's. Now that he could touch him, he couldn't get enough. "So can I ask a question?" Steve nodded slightly grateful that Danny wasn't listening to him and has decided to take an active role in this conversation. "How did we get from the night at the bar with the guy that was nice to look at but not my type at all to you holding my hand the entire way to the hospital and even taking up residence next to my bed?"

"Mary and Grace." Steve simply replied watching Danny tilt his head in confusion. "The morning after the bar incident Mary showed up because she had a layover between flights and we had a nice conversation in which Mary basically told me I was being a scared child for not following my heart in a sense. And then the icing on the cake was when Grace showed up here with Rachel demanding to talk to me. She was worried about her Danno being so sad. Of course, I wasn't about to tell her everything and I tried to explain things to her, but she of course couldn't grasp what so hard about me loving you and you loving me that we couldn't be together. That daughter of yours is beginning to sound a lot more like you and it's kinda scary Danno. You've got yourself a very perceptive and persuasive kid there." Danny smiled in pride and nodded, he knew how amazing his daughter was. And to hear that she even came to talk to Steve about things between them made him love his daughter even more.

"She's a Williams what do you expect?" Steve smiled at the proud smile on Danny's face as he spoke. No matter if Rachel remarried or not, Grace would always be a Williams, until she herself married and that made Danny insanely proud.

"True, plus you know that I can't say no when she asks for things, so when she asked me to make it better I promised her I would. Of course, I didn't think that you would get shot before I could tell you how I felt, but I think that it all worked out in the end, don't you?"

"Yeah it worked out, but it would have been even better if I didn't have to get shot in the process. That's the only downside to that." Danny replied as a silence fell between the two, Danny was processing everything that Steve had told him and trying to figure out where they go from here.

"I know that this has been one fucked up messy situation from the beginning, but I mean it Danny. I love you so much and I don't want to waste any more time. I want to give us a shot at being together. I mean I know it won't be easy, especially because of everything that's been done and said between us, but I want to try. I want, no need, you in my life. Please tell me you still love me, even if it's only a little bit."

"You're a goof ya know that? Did you not hear me before you started your record breaking talk about feelings? I told you I still love you. And you're right, it's not going to be easy, but I'm willing to try because I happen to think that now that we're both on the same page, we're going to be pretty amazing together." Steve nods pulling Danny closer to the edge of the counter so Steve can slide between his open legs, his hands now resting on Danny's hips, while Danny's have found their way up and around Steve's neck, pulling him even closer and resting his forehead against Steve's. After a few moments of Steve just staring in Danny's eyes, he finally gets the hint and pushes his lips lightly against Danny's. Danny sighed into the chaste kiss as his fingers toyed with the hair on Steve's neck. As Danny's fingers brushed lightly against Steve's neck, Steve pulled Danny tighter to him, deepening their kiss in the process. Danny's heart stopped at the passion and love seeping through this kiss. In his wildest dreams, he never thought their first kiss would be like this. Yet it made sense with the two of them that things rarely went the way in which was easiest. With his lungs beginning to protest, Steve pulled away but not before pressing a light kiss against Danny's lips.

"You're one hundred percent sure about this, right?" Steve asked needing to it hear it again. He needed the reassurance that they were going to do this and make it last.

"No I'm two hundred percent sure about this. And there's no pressure here, we'll take things as slow as we need to. Because like they say babe, Rome wasn't built in a day." Steve feels an intense weight lifted from his chest and smiles ducking his head to kiss the smirk right off Danny's face.

A/N 2: Well there ya have it. I've enjoyed writing this story from beginning to end and I can't wait to see what you guys thought about this ending. Thank you again for supporting this story so much and giving it so much love. I'm currently brainstorming ideas for the next story, so if you have one let me know. ~thatredheadgirl~