CHAPTER ONE
Title: "Salvation: Forever and Always: Elusive Dreams – PART II"
Author: Michelle Heath
Rating: MA for adult situations and language
Summary: Story #9 in the Salvation series. The bonds of family bring the Five-0 ohana even closer.
Disclaimer: I so do not own Hawaii Five-0; unfortunately! All original characters are the property of the author!
Date Written: August 29, 2012
A/N: Hello! First of all, thank you for all the private messages I have received since posting the final chapter of Part I of this story. I truly appreciate you all taking the time to read and review my work, and your encouraging messages mean the world to me. It's been a few weeks since the first part of this story concluded but I'm ready to move on to Part II. (I took some vacation time and did a little traveling, and had a wonderful and relaxing time!) If any of you have any story/plot ideas you would like for me to include in this or any future stories, please send me a pm and I'll do my best. And now, on to Part II of "Elusive Dreams"! Michelle
(Caroline Williams is, quite literally, miserable. She has just gotten home from a baby shower for Casey Landry, the wife of U.S. Navy Seal Nick Landry. The Landry's are friends with not only Caroline and Danny Williams, but their extended ohana, as well. The shower was held at Sam and Steve McGarrett's house and Caroline has spent the entire day there; first helping her sister with the preparations and then cleaning up after the shower. Sam tried to talk Caroline into spending the night because Steve and Danny escorted a high-profile prisoner to San Francisco and won't be back home until late the following day, but Caroline declined the offer saying she was ready for some peace and quiet after the hectic day. Now, however, Caroline stands in the master bedroom and feels herself sinking into a state of depression. Three months earlier, she had a reaction to steroids she had been given for an upper respiratory infection that nearly cost her everything; her husband, her family, and her career. Fortunately, they discovered what was wrong and, after a few days' stay in the base hospital, she's good as new. She and Danny have a marriage that only gets stronger and more loving every day, her step-daughter, Grace, is an absolute angel, and Sam told her that her name is on the list of candidates going before the promotions board in a few weeks. In short, Caroline has every reason to be happy except one, and that one reason is huge. She has been unable to conceive and it's killing her. Listening to all the other women at the shower today except Lana Kelly, Chin's wife, talking about their pregnancies and children was one of the most difficult things she's ever done. Watching Sam with her nine month old daughter, Emily, and Kono with her son, Eric, who's not quite sixteen months old, only added to Caroline's misery although she loves both her niece and little Eric dearly. When everyone had left the shower except Kono and Lana, who helped Sam and Caroline clean up, and Kono started talking about how Tony had been dropping hints that Eric might like to have a little brother or sister, Caroline had decided she'd had enough and made an excuse about having to be on duty earlier than usual and had fled. Looking around at the pictures of her and Danny, some with and some without Grace, and the picture of Grace alone which hang on the walls or sit in places of honor on the dresser or their bedside tables, Caroline feels the familiar sting of tears in her eyes and sinks forlornly down onto the bed.)
"Why, God? Why can't I get pregnant? Danny and I have done everything the doctor has told us to do and I know it's not his fault so it must be mine! What's wrong with me? Why can't I conceive?"
(Caroline's solitary monologue is interrupted by the ringing of her cellular phone and she quickly wipes her eyes and tries to inject as much normalcy into her voice as possible when she sees Danny's name and number pop up on the caller I.D.)
"Hey, Romeo, turned over your prisoner yet?"
"Just now, thank God. Steve and I are going to have dinner at a restaurant he swears serves the best steaks on the planet and then we're calling it a night. We got our flight back to Honolulu changed to an earlier time and should be back on the island by twelve-thirty tomorrow afternoon. Wanna have lunch with your husband, Mrs. Williams?"
"I'd love to have lunch with you, Danny, but Sam and I are flying training exercises with the new group of pilots and REOs tomorrow. We'll be wheels up at 0900 and won't be landing back at Pearl until 1500."
"Damn. . . Well, then, how about I take you out to dinner tomorrow night? Steve's about to come out of his skin to get back home so he can resume chasing Emily all around the house, but I'd kind of like to spend the evening with this gorgeous redhead I know."
"How do you know when I'm a little down in the dumps and need a 'pick-me-up'?"
"'Cause I know you, Caroline. . . I'm thinking we have dinner at that new place, Mirage, and then we take a romantic, moonlight stroll on the beach, and then . . "
"And then, Detective Williams, you're going to bring me home so I can have my wicked way with you."
"Wow. . .Okay, then. I'm texting you our new flight information and I'll call you in the morning before you go wheels up. . I love you, Caroline."
"Love you, too, Danny. Call me before you go to bed, okay?"
"Absolutely, Gorgeous."
(Setting her cellular phone on the bedside table, Caroline gives in to the tears that have been threatening for hours and indulges herself in a good cry. . .
At the McGarrett's, Sam is laughing as she chases Emily, who is practically running all over the house. Emily Anne McGarrett has proven to do everything early, from her arrival to crawling, to walking, to running, to saying, "Mommy" and "Daddy", which she does very well, and Sam and Steve are absolutely head over heels in love with their daughter and unabashedly show their delight at every opportunity. At this particular moment, little Emily has apparently noticed her father's absence and is going from room to room saying, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy". Sam finally catches her daughter at the foot of the stairs, sweeps Emily up into her arms, and runs up the stairs with her, laughing breathlessly as she falls onto her and Steve's bed and laughs along with her daughter's giggles. When her cellular phone rings and she sees Steve's name and number pop up on her caller I.D., Sam grabs the phone with one hand while hugging Emily's little body to hers with the other.)
"It's Daddy, Emily!"
"Daddy, Daddy!"
"Hey, Sailor."
"Hey, Beautiful. How's my two favorite girls?"
"We're just fine although Emily has been running all over the house looking for you. She misses you, Steve, and so do I."
"Not half as much as I miss the two of you, Sam. Danny and I got an earlier flight back to Honolulu so we should be back there around twelve-thirty tomorrow."
"And I have to be wheels up at 0900 and won't be back on the ground at Pearl until 1500 hours."
"Well, damn."
"Yeah, Sailor, me, too. Why don't you have lunch here at the house when you get back? Rosa said something about making chicken salad in the morning and I know Emily will be very happy to see her Daddy."
"I can do that. . . Um, Sam, what about Emily's mother?"
"Emily's mother, Steve, will be more than happy to see Emily's Daddy. In fact, Emily's mother can hardly wait to see all of Emily's Daddy . . And . . touch him, and.. "
"Whoa, Sam! The baby's right there!"
"The baby, Steve, is way too young to know what we're talking about."
"Oh, my God, we're actually having phone sex."
"Not yet, but if this conversation goes much further. . ."
"I think you'd better let me talk to Baby Girl before this conversation gets out of hand."
"You have a problem with this conversation getting out of hand?"
"Well, yeah, Sam, I do . . When I'm in San Francisco and you're in Honolulu."
"Point taken. Hang on. . . . Emily, Daddy's on the phone. Wanna talk to Daddy?"
"Daddy, daddy, daddy!"
(And the next few minutes are spent with Steve making silly noises and "baby" talk while his daughter giggles happily and her mother basks in the glow of her delighted daughter. It's only when she hears her husband utter her name in a rather curt manner that Sam moves the phone away from her daughter's ear and resumes her conversation with Steve.)
"Now you've done it! Emily is looking at me with this mutinous expression on her face because I took the phone away from her."
"Sorry, but Danny just knocked on the door to my room and I don't want to watch him smirk at me during dinner because I was making silly noises for Emily's benefit."
"Good try, Steve, but that's not why you wanted me to get back on the phone. You're a good man, Steve McGarrett, and I will love you until the end of time and then some."
"What are you talking about, Sam?"
"Look, I know Danny is standing right there in the room with you and I know that you stopped talking to Emily the second he walked in the door because you don't want him to feel bad. Can't fool me, Sailor."
"You know me well, Sam, and, yeah, you're right."
"And you can't really discuss this right now for the same reason you stopped talking to Emily so. . . You and Danny go out and have a wonderful dinner and call me when you get back to the hotel."
"I will, Beautiful. . I love you, Sam."
"Love you, too, Steve. . . . . Emily, your Daddy is one of the most caring people on Earth. He had to cut his conversation with you short because he didn't want your Uncle Danny to be upset. See, your Uncle Danny and Aunt Caroline want to have a baby of their own, but, well, it just hasn't happened yet. But it will one day, and then you'll have a new cousin to play with."
(And Sam's heart just melts as her tiny daughter smiles at her sweetly, grabs two little fistfuls of Sam's golden-blonde hair, and pulls her mother toward her so she can plant a wet, kiss on her mother's cheek as she sing-songs "Mommy". . . .
A knowing look on his face, Danny can't hide the small smile playing about his mouth as he gazes at his brother-in-law.)
"Steve McGarrett, take no prisoners head of the Governor's Task Force, bad-ass Navy SEAL can be reduced to making silly noises and faces by my nine month old niece. Go Emily!"
"Hey!"
"What? Just sayin' . . ."
"Shut up, Danny. Let's go; I'm starving."
(Caroline lies on the bed for a long, long time after she has cried herself out and allows her mind to wander. Actually, that's not quite correct; Caroline cannot stop her mind from wandering. So desperately does she want a baby with Danny that she thinks of little else except when she's flying. She is wondering if there's anything more she can do to increase her chances of conceiving and then she realizes that she's stressing over getting pregnant so much that she's probably preventing it from happening. She is surprised to realize that she's been lying there for over two hours when her cellular phone rings when Danny calls to say good night, but she doesn't move even after they've finished their conversation and she's replaced her phone on the bedside table. She isn't the least surprised when fresh tears begin to slide down her face and she is soon wracked with deep, harsh sobs.)