SABBATICAL

By Lori ©2017

Author's Note, 1: The obligatory disclaimer that Hawaii Five-0 (1968-1980) and its characters depicted here are not original to me. This story is written for the enjoyment of the original show's fans and not for profit or material gain. The story idea, though, is original to me and is protected. LBH, 2017

Author's Note, 2: My story below features an original character I created, Dr. Kay Oliver. If you have seen any of James MacArthur's movies, you might remember "The Truth About Spring" from 1964 in which he starred with Hayley Mills as his love interest. As I imagined this storyline, Kay is played (in my mind and hopefully in yours) by an older Hayley Mills. Get ready for a little romance, conflict, hurt/comfort, and trouble for our favorite second-in-command.

CHAPTER 1

[1979]

Danny and Duke left the Kalaki household with no more than they had walked in with—lots of questions but no answers. Oh, well, the routine of police work meant hitting a lot of dead ends before getting to the mother lode. They'd keep asking their questions until they asked somebody who knew an answer or two.

But they couldn't complain about being thrust back out into the sunshine. It was a beautiful day, especially on this street, with its larger-than-average manicured lawns and larger-than-average houses. This was a neighborhood Danny knew well. Although it was high-end, he had actually spent a good deal of time here, at least until several months ago.

Upon leaving, as Duke drove them slowly down the street that would take them out of the subdivision, Danny silently searched just beyond where his eyes could see for a particular home on the circle.

Would there be a 'for sale' sign out front? he wondered. The grass is probably grown up around it—no, I forgot she uses a lawn service. It will be sad to see it all closed up. Lots of good memories there. Duke didn't know it, but melancholy was settling in on his companion, even on this bright day in paradise.

As the Five-O sedan came closer to the home he sought, Danny's heart leapt in his chest as he saw a familiar car parked in the driveway, and the garage door open. He had driven by before, although it had been a while, and her car was always shuttered behind closed garage doors. As they drew near, Danny sat up a little straighter in the front seat to get a better view. The house looks more open. Is she back?

Duke noticed Danny's neck-stretching interest in one of the neighborhood's homes and asked, "See somethin', bruddah?"

Danny heard Duke speaking to him but didn't catch what he said. He was suddenly very preoccupied with the sight of a beautiful lady stepping out of the home's front door. There she is, he thought, as he spotted a lady in a muumuu, with blond hair falling down just below her shoulders. She's back.

"Danny? What are you lookin' at?" Duke spoke again.

"Just admiring the view, Duke." Danny adjusted himself back into his seat in the car, smiled broadly, but then caught himself, and the melancholy returned.

5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O 5-O

Kay Oliver had been busy all day, and she was tired. Still suffering from jetlag, she nevertheless had spent the better part of the day opening up the house, cleaning and airing it out.

Most people in this neighborhood had maids to do that work, but she never had. She could barely afford the house, not a maid to go with it. Besides, she enjoyed doing the manual labor herself; she felt it gave her mind a much-needed break and her body some exercise. Besides, living alone, she never created a mess that couldn't be ordinarily overcome on a Saturday with some elbow grease and a little music for inspiration.

Today, Kay reveled in just being home. She had missed it and had missed Hawaii. Although British by birth, she had warmly adopted the 50th United State after accepting a job teaching literature at the University of Hawaii.

As she stood at her kitchen counter, she reflected on all the things that had happened in the last year and all that she had missed while she was away. Her reverie was interrupted, though, by the ringing of her front doorbell. Who would that be? Nobody knows I'm back.

By the time she got to the front door, Kay was convinced her unexpected caller had to be a neighbor. She looked down at herself and winced that she looked less than attractive in her large muumuu after a day of tidying up. Determined to smile and thwart all probing questions about where she'd been or anything else she deemed private, she cheerfully answered her door.

Opening it wide to make her greeting, Kay stopped in her tracks, frozen with surprise as she recognized her visitor. He stood respectfully on the top step and smiled tightly, as though he were not quite sure how, or if, he would be received.

"Hi," was all he spoke.

"Danny!" Her tone was soft but emphatic. Her heart jumped with excitement, then raced, along with her thoughts as her logical mind started to click through various scenarios. What do I do? He's not supposed to know I'm here! Belying her inner panic, she smiled back at him. What do I say? Stumbling on the words, she uttered, "I can't believe you're here!"

In a friendly manner, Danny returned her thought. "I think I could say the same thing. I thought you were in England?" As happy as he was that she was back, he was confused by her return.

"I… I have been. I just got back yesterday," she mumbled, as she nervously straightened her loose strands of hair. "How did you know I was back?" Kay honestly wanted to know. Has he been keeping tabs on me? What does he know?

"This is going to sound really corny," Danny began, "but I was in the neighborhood. Seriously, earlier today I was a few houses down interviewing a witness in a case we're handling, and I saw your car, and then I saw you in the doorway. I was… surprised! I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I dropped by for a few minutes."

Danny hoped for an invitation in, but instead he just received a stunned look. She didn't know what to say, so he plunged ahead and said, "May I come in?"

As awkward as this was, Kay knew better than to be—and wouldn't want to be—so discourteous as to say no. "Oh, yes, of course," as she let go of the door, stepped aside and walked further into the house, leaving Danny to close the door behind himself. "Actually, I'm embarrassed to have you come in. I've been cleaning all day, and I'm a mess," she mentioned truthfully. "You probably would want to keep your distance," she chuckled uneasily. "After all, you're still all dressed up. You must have just come from work." You look great, Danny. I missed you. "You look… great!"

"Thanks. You don't look a mess at all, Kay. You look beautiful, as always," he said sincerely, giving her a shy version of his trademark crooked smile. After a moment, though, his brow folded into that familiar crinkle, and he looked a little puzzled, "But I don't ever remember seeing you in a muumuu. I didn't know you even owned one."

Using her hands to flutter the floppy dress a little, "I guess I couldn't wait to get back into the tropical lifestyle," Kay said self-consciously. "Uh… come to the dining room, Danny, and have a seat. I can get us both some juice. Sorry, I don't have anything else to offer you at the moment. The cupboards are pretty empty," as she scooted away toward the kitchen.

Danny followed her as far as the dining table, pulled out a chair, and took a seat as she stalled in the kitchen. "I don't need anything, thank you. I want to hear more about your visit back home."

Kay meandered awkwardly toward the dining room and took a seat across from Danny as he spoke further, "I was sorry to hear about your brother-in-law's death, but I was glad you called to tell me."

"Yes," she answered as she dropped her head apologetically. "I'm sorry about that. I was upset, and I just needed someone to talk to. Lucky you, I picked someone on the other side of the world—and in the middle of the night!"

"I'm used to being up at all hours, and hey, it was YOUR phone bill!" he laughed. She laughed, too—the first real emotion she openly showed in the conversation. After a moment, he became more solemn and asked, "How's your sister doing?"

Despite the sad topic, Kay kept her chin up, literally and emotionally. "As well as she can. Elizabeth and Harry were so close, but he had been so sick. It's really a sad time for her." Furrowing her brow, she looked down to stare into her juice and pondered aloud, "I hated leaving her, even for a few weeks."

"A few weeks? You mean… you're going back?" The disappointment was plain in Danny's tone as he dreaded confirmation.

Hesitantly, she answered, "Yes, I've got to. You see, she needs me…, for a little while longer, anyway."

They were silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts, mostly sad ones.

Danny finally broke through the gloomy atmosphere, saying, "Why don't you bring her here? Hawaii's a great place to get away from it all, or so I've heard…," with a smile.

Laughing at first at his attempt at humor, she then turned serious, "Yes, but she has so much legal business to take care of in England, now that he's gone." Brightening up again, she added, "And besides, I'm getting a lot of research done on my sabbatical from the University. I've drafted four chapters for my book, and my editor is very pleased. And so am I—you know, publish or perish—that's the life of a university professor."

"That's what I hear." Conflicted about her determination to leave Hawaii again so soon, Danny implied agreement. "But your sabbatical—it was sort of sudden, wasn't it? I don't remember you telling me that you had applied. I thought that sort of thing took a lot of planning in advance."

Hesitating again, she defended, "Well, ordinarily it does, but with my brother-in-law's illness, the University exercised some flexibility so I could go home for a while-you know, for my sister's sake."

Danny's interrogation antenna tuned in quickly to her discomfort in answering that question. "So…, why did you come back?"

Even without the detective skills that Danny possessed, it wasn't hard for Kay to recognize the resignation with which he asked the question. It made her sad to make him sad, as how much she cared for him flooded over her as they sat and talked. Why does this have to be so hard? Maybe I shouldn't have come back at all, not until it was all over.

"I have to take care of some things at the campus in order to be away for a little longer, and I wanted to open up my house. There is a visiting professor coming who is going to rent it from me for a semester." She smiled as best she could, under the circumstances.

"Oh," he said. It seemed an acceptable and plausible explanation, if a little weak—nothing a good investigator couldn't poke holes in if he wanted to, but he wasn't inclined to at the moment.

She chattered nervously on for quite a while, with Danny interrupting with questions or observations or comments about what had been going on with her or him. They spent at least an hour this way, happily talking as the old friends that they were.

Then, running out of seemingly mundane things to say, they sat for a few uncomfortable minutes without saying anything, until Danny made a decision. It was time to press his case. "So, Kay, um…why did you break up with me, again?"

With the sudden change in topic, she was dumbfounded. What? Don't make me answer that. Things were going so well. "I thought we talked that all out before I left. I was going to be away for a while, and I just didn't think it was fair for you to have to wait for me while I was in England with Elizabeth."

"Yeah, that's what you said then, too." Danny looked accepting of the answer but was none too convinced.

The breakup had been sudden, unexpected. Their relationship was built on a long-ago friendship re-blossomed as a blissful romance of close to a year. They saw each other every day, which was often difficult given his work schedule with Five-O. Their love was admitted and monogamous. Then Kay inexplicably opened a chasm between them by talking about returning home to England to stay, without him. No reason given, except the illness of her brother-in-law and the needs of her sister—important, yes, but a reason to give up one's life, livelihood, and love of all time? He couldn't understand it yet couldn't stop her.

With all the gentleness he could muster, he persisted in his pursuit of understanding the mysterious breakup. It had haunted him ever since she left. "I don't think I ever, ever really understood. We were great together, at least I thought we were—I know I was happier than I'd been in a long, long time."

Drawing closer to her beautiful face, he softly spoke, "Kay, I've known you off and on for over 20 years. Maybe I've waited for you for 20 years, I don't know, but I would have waited for you a while longer. In fact, I did wait for you. There's been no one else for me since you left." Frustration growing, his voice grew louder as he leaned back in his chair, "And now you're back, you didn't even call to say hello, and you're just going to turn around and leave again?"

Kay just sat and stared at him, her heart soft but her voice mute. At her silence, he finally allowed, dejectedly, "I guess I should take a hint, huh?"

Tears filled her blue eyes as she saw the pain reflected in his. "I told you not to wait."

Out of breath from his stream of consciousness monologue, he nevertheless continued, unrelenting. "I know, but… I thought… maybe you'd give me… another chance. What did I do wrong?" Danny was nearly pleading.

Kay put both her hands over her face and, through her tears, reassured him, "Nothing! You didn't do anything wrong. It was just… I just didn't think it was fair to you…."

"WHAT wasn't fair to me? Don't I get a say in this?" he implored.

In response, Kay again said nothing. After a few moments, she moved her hands down enough that she could see his face as it drew close to hers. All she could see were his gentle blue eyes, as clear as the Pacific. I missed you so much, she she could stop herself, she heard herself say, "I missed you so much!"

As they had been since shortly after he arrived, Danny and Kay both held their seats at the dining table, but he was close enough to touch her face, pull it close to his, and kiss her passionately. She heard him say, "I love you, still."

Before she knew it, before she could stop it, Kay was lost—lost back in her memories of months ago when she was carefree and happy and so in love. She got lost in his eyes and his kisses and forgot everything and everyone else in the world.

Danny felt as though the months of her absence had melted away, never existed. The dull ache in his heart was gone for the first time in a long time. The pain of being left was forgotten in the pleasure of being together and feeling close. The woman he loved was here again, not halfway around the world, running away from him. He had to hold on to her this time!

As they kissed across the table, Danny slowly rose to his feet without ever taking his lips from hers. With his hands holding her face, he brought her to her feet as well. They continued to kiss as his hands caressed her tousled hair, then her shoulders, and down the back of her ridiculously large muumuu. Kay felt his touch and kissed him back, loving the love that he was still willing to give her, forgetting all there was in the world other than the two of them. Danny then encircled his hands around the sides of her waist and drew her body to him so that they were as close as two could be.

Suddenly, in the midst of a passionate kiss, Danny drew his face back away from hers, without completing the kiss, and opened his eyes. Kay's eyes were closed, enjoying the moment, but then she opened them at his pause. Danny's hands now held the small of Kay's back but had stopped their passionate roving.

His eyes went wide with shock. Kay was momentarily oblivious to what was wrong, until she stopped to realize… how close they physically were. Close enough to know….