“Hey Danny!" Kai said as he answered his phone. 

He hadn’t spoken to the guy in almost a month, since they'd gone out to get breakfast with each other.

When Danny’s name appeared on his caller ID Kai was pleasantly surprised. He’d liked chatting with Danny, he was funny and loud and he spoke his mind.

When Danny had finally dropped him off at his car that day, after their breakfast at Alohilani’s, Kai felt pretty confident that they were at least parting ways as friends.

He'd been meaning to call Danny, see if they could grab some coffee. But camp had been wrapping up their summer that time had gotten away from him.

“Hey Kai,” Danny said on his end of the phone, “how are you?”

“Good buddy, you?”

“Worried,” Danny said, his leg bouncing up and down underneath his desk at the precinct. He was on his lunch break but hadn’t touched his meal.

“Why are you worried?” Kai asked, sitting up at his own desk in his office.

“Well, El, you see she fell in love with camp five - oh," Danny said, "and, well..."

He grabbed a pencil from his desk to fidget with, then kept talking.

"Well, we’ve talked about it a bunch and she’s determined on going next summer. And I try to be a reasonable dad, so I told her I'd think about it but... I don’t know... I’m not comfortable with her doing all that stuff you guys do."

The pencil accidentally flipped out of his hand.

He watched as it narrowly missed hitting one of his co-workers. He grabbed another pencil and continued.

"But El, she’s- she’s the best kid out there. And I know all parents say that about their kids but for Elena it’s actually true. You know, after everything she’s been through with her mom and me, and moving all the way out here, leaving her friends, starting a new school. I don’t know, she deserves to- to have fun, even if I don’t really agree with that fun, or even get how it’s fun. But... but, just... not being there for her is scary.”

“Well," Kai said, wheels in his brain already turning, "you can always sign up to be a camp counselor."

"Counselor?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Kai grinned, already pulling up the volunteer file on his computer and adding Danny’s name to the list. "We love getting parents involved and we could always use more volunteers!”

“I don’t know, I’m not much of an outdoor nature guy...”

“Well, I mean it’s a way for you to watch over El, that way she’d be able to come.”

“Okay,” Danny nodded, he put his pencil down and eyed his salad once more, he’d wanted to bring tacos for lunch but Elena had convinced him to pack a salad. “Yeah, I’ll think about it. I’ll talk it over with her.”

Kai picked up his phone and dialed Danny. It had been a week since they'd last talked and Kai needed to know if Danny was still interested in being a counselor since training started soon.

After a few rings, Danny finally picked up and Kai explained the situation while Danny rifled through his new kitchen, attempting to make himself some coffee.

“Uh, yeah," Danny said, "why not? Sign me up.” He fistbumped the air when he found a clean mug. “El seemed really excited about it! I figure I only got a couple more years before she starts wanting nothing to do with me, right? So why not take advantage of the time?"

Kai agreed enthusiastically.

"Um," Danny said, crossing his fingers as he walked to his sink, please let there be water, "When are the trainings? I usually work during the week.” He gave a silent thank you as the water poured into his mug.

“We mostly meet Friday nights," Kai said, standing from his desk to stretch. "But we can definitely work around your schedule!”

Danny nodded sending a silent thanks into the air when his sink gave him his water.

“The training isn’t anything too extreme!" Kai added as he started pacing his office, not wanting to scare Danny away, "Basically just preparing you for basic camp activities, campfire songs, wilderness safety, seeing what you’ll be able to lead or teach.”

He wasn't sure why he was trying so hard to convince Danny to join the team.

He'd liked El, she'd brought a great morale to the rest of the campers, and he loved having returning campers, he knew Elena would be a great leader... and, Kai realized, he'd be lying if he said that he didn’t like her father too.

There was something about Danny that Kai found compelling, he wasn't sure what. Sure, Danny was cute, but it was more than that.

As he paced his office, going over the details of training with Danny, he decided to chalk it up to a basic admiration for the great care and love Danny showed for his daughter.

Danny listened to Kai as he went about trying to make his coffee.

He'd already microwaved his mug of water for 2 minutes but it still wasn't even close to being lukewarm.

He'd stayed at an Airbnb, someone's backyard bungalow, for his first month in Hawaii while he searched for an apartment.

Now he'd finally moved into one, though he wasn’t sure if it could actually be legally classified as one. He hated everything about the place and was fervently looking for somewhere new. The only good thing about staying there was that the lease was month to month, the place was cheap, and best of all, it was relatively close to Elena’s other house.

Even though Elena only stayed with him on the weekends, he tried his best to make the place feel as homey as possible for her. He wanted to make sure she felt like she had a place there.

Even if “there” only ever had cold water—if it was even running at all— and had a permanent smell of nursing home that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times Danny washed the floors and sprayed the air.

Though most of his stuff was still in boxes, all of Elena's things had already been unpacked and put in their place, including her drawings that covered Danny's fridge.

He looked at them as he talked with Kai, reminding himself that going through a little nature would be worth it if it meant spending more time with Elena.

“Yeah," Danny said, nodding along to Kai's explanation.

He dipped a finger in his mug and had to hold back an ugghhhh as he put it back in the microwave and set it for another minute. He realized he should probably get out the coffee and turned around to look for it.

“And most volunteer counselors," Kai continued, "get paired with our year-round staffed counselors and help with their track."

Kai stopped pacing his office, standing in front of a camp picture, the same one Danny had grabbed when he'd been there the month before. He grinned at the memory, at Danny’s Camp SO.

"Who knows," Kai said, "maybe you’ll get paired with me.”

“Alright," Danny said, fist pumping the air as he found the coffee, "Yeah, I'm in."