Over the last three weeks while Steve had been away, Rachel had gotten settled in her new home, and she and Danny had worked out a schedule for Grace that was agreeable to both of them.
Rachel was working from home, putting her degree from the London School of Economics to use, and acquiring some private accounting clients. She hired Leila, another cousin from Chin and Kono's huge network, for housework, laundry and to watch Charlie while Rachel worked.
To Danny's surprise, Rachel was willing for him to continue to have primary physical custody of Grace. She seemed determined to do her part to solidify their new relationship as friends, and to her this seemed the best way to extend the olive branch. Danny was grateful that he was not going to be dragged back into court.
She set her work schedule so that she was able to pick Grace up from school during the week and Grace and Charlie were able to spend the afternoons together. After Danny was done with work, he would pick Grace up and take her home. As often happened with the 5-0 task force, over the last three weeks Danny had a case go overnight a couple of times. Surprisingly, all it took was a phone call and Grace was safe and secure at Rachel's for the night.
Sometimes Danny found it hard to trust in this version of Rachel. But, he remembered the person she had been when they first met and fell in love, and he knew that she was part of the reason that Grace was such a wonderful child. He decided that while he was still suspicious of her motives, he would try and accept things at face value, until she gave him a reason to change his mind.
From Rachel's perspective, she truly regretted the way her life had turned out and was determined to make some changes. She had grown up in a family where her father had been very sickly and her mother, a housewife with no skills, was terrified that he would die and they would be destitute. She passed those fears onto Rachel who absorbed them and subconsciously sought security in her own life. When she was married to Danny and he had been badly injured on the job, all those old fears rose to the surface and she panicked. Practically before she realized what had happened, they were divorced.
In retrospect, she understood she had divorced Danny out of fear. She had met and married Stanley in a whirlwind after her divorce and she now knew that she had done so out of fear again, this time the fear of being alone and the fear of being unable to provide for herself and Grace. And now, her marriage to Stanley was also full of fear. The happy marriage they projected to the outside world was far from the truth.
Four years ago, when she discovered she was pregnant with Charlie and was prepared to leave Stanley, she was shocked when Danny did not accompany them to New Jersey, but stayed behind to work on clearing Steve McGarrett of the murder of Governor Jameson. She did not think there was anything that would come before herself and Grace. After the doctor told her that the baby was undoubtedly Stan's, with him begging her to come back, and her doubt of Danny's true feelings, her fears and need for security once again re-surfaced and she chose to reconcile with Stan; love had nothing to do with her decision. Next to divorcing Danny in the first place, it was probably the worst decision of her life.
After the reconciliation between herself and Stanley, they had settled back into their routine in Hawaii with Stan constantly traveling, Rachel pregnant and Grace dividing her time between their home and Danny's. Rachel and Danny seemed to be coming to terms with the divorce and their new lives and were finally able to speak civilly to one another. Danny, not Stan, was the one who was there for Charlie's birth. Then, Grace was kidnapped, Stan was shot, and the fears were running rampant again. This time, Stan was actively feeding those fears.
When he took the new job with the Yamashita Corporation and first divulged the fact that it would entail a move to Las Vegas, Rachel fought against it because she felt another move would not be beneficial to Grace. She wanted Grace to have the stability she had lacked as a child.
She was surprised when she received the call from the school that one of the tuition checks had bounced and astounded when one of her credit cards had been refused at the store. It was only after she had done some careful, discreet investigating that she discovered that all of their assets were solely in Stan's name, and all the largest assets were in overseas accounts. There were very few U.S. assets Rachel would have been able to attach in the event of a divorce. She got the message and quietly agreed to the move. The credit issues were miraculously resolved.
When Danny surprised her and filed a motion to prevent Grace's move to Las Vegas, Rachel put her own feelings to the side and thought long and hard about what would be best for Grace. Then she did the only thing she could think of to ensure her daughter's happiness. She "forgot" about the court date for the custody hearing.
At the time, Stanley was traveling, as usual. As she had hoped, the fact she was not present and no explanation was offered by her attorney was looked upon unfavorably by the judge, and Danny was awarded joint custody which kept Grace in Hawaii. Since Stan had made it plain from the beginning that it was immaterial to him whether Grace moved with them, he got what he wanted and Rachel and Charles moved to Las Vegas.
After several promotions Stan was now a high level executive at Yamashita Corporation. Over the last few years, Rachel had become friendly with a couple of the other wives. At a women's luncheon, one of the "Yamashita Wives" was discussing a mutual friend from church who was going through a messy divorce, and leaned over to Rachel and whispered, "well, at least we know that will never happen to us."
At Rachel's puzzled look, the woman was surprised. "Didn't it ever occur to you that all the high level executives at Yamashita, men who travel practically year-round and are never home, are all married men with families? No divorces? Old man Yamashita is old-school. If any of them ever got divorced, they would be fired in a minute. My husband would do absolutely anything to make sure we stay married. No matter how miserable we are." With that, she turned to order another Bloody Mary.
When Stan came to her with his Far East promotion and a move to Thailand, armed with the strength of her new knowledge, she was able to stand her ground and refused to move. They had a series of vicious arguments, but ultimately she negotiated a return to Hawaii for herself and Charles, as well as a monthly allowance. Her friend was right. Stan would do anything to maintain the marriage.
Stanley was extremely angry, but he had to allow it or jeopardize the best job he ever had. Rachel finally felt that she might find some peace in her life, even though she would have to remain with him. Since he was never home, she felt it was a small price to pay. However, she was somewhat frightened of what Stan might do if she ever filed for divorce again.
She had selected a home in Danny's neighborhood because, with her growing business, she thought she would be able to afford it even in the event Stanley cut her off financially. She was once again afraid of the future, but she refused to let fear rule her choices this time.
Rachel and Danny's new agreement had Grace spending alternating weekends with them. Out of the last three weekends, Danny had Grace once and Rachel had her twice, so the upcoming weekend was Danny's. On Grace's previous weekend with her father, Grace had asked if Charlie could come and see the movie with them, which was fine with Danny. A couple of nights during the past few weeks when Danny had gotten off a little earlier than usual, he had taken both Grace and Charlie out for something to eat.
Danny was really beginning to love the little guy. He was a shy yet happy child who possessed a delightful personality, and Grace absolutely doted on him. He also looked a great deal like Grace had at the same age, all brown hair, brown eyes and colt-like legs. Their resemblance made it easy for Danny to love Charlie; it was like having a mini, male Grace around. Although it was sometimes painful when Danny thought how he once thought this child was his, when he saw the love the two children had for each other, he was able to get past his own pain so that his daughter and her brother could be together.
For the first week or so after Rachel's return, Charlie had been wary of him. But, since he always wanted to be with Grace, he was forced to get used to Danny. At first, he wouldn't really look at Danny or talk to him, communicating with him through Grace. Then, he warmed up a little and began calling him "Uncle Danny" at Rachel's prompting.
Danny knew he had made a friend the day he had taken Grace and Charlie to see 'Frozen" and on the way out an excited Charlie grabbed his hand and said "Danno, Danno! I love Olaf!" Danny bought him a stuffed Olaf toy right then and there at the movie theater, despite the exorbitant price.