"Forever and Always – For Eternity"
CHAPTER TWENTY
Title: "Forever and Always: For Eternity"
Author: Michelle Heath
Rating: MA for adult situations and language
Summary: Story #6 in the Salvation, Forever and Always Series. The honor of your presence is requested at the wedding of Lana Palea and Chin Ho Kelly.
Disclaimer: I so do not own Hawaii Five-0; unfortunately! All original characters are the sole property of the author!
Date Written: June 5, 2011
(Kono is pleasantly surprised to find Tony already home when she gets there. Usually, she gets home before he does and his being there before her is a very welcomed event on this particular day. She finds him just stepping out of the bathroom when she walks into their bedroom; a towel wrapped around his to die for body and droplets of water still in his dark hair. Even at six and a half months pregnant, Kono's pulse rate kicks up a notch as she feasts her eyes on her handsome, sexy husband. Shooting her an adorable smile, he gives her a quick kiss as he opens a drawer and reaches for a pair of clean underwear.)
"Hey, babe, thought I'd take my beautiful wife out to dinner. You up for that?"
"Sure, but what's the occasion?"
"No special reason. Just thought we could both use an evening out with a good dinner and no dishes or cleaning up to do. I talked to Chin, K. I think he just had a bad case of nerves and he's ready to go ahead with the wedding now."
"You talked to Chin? Tony, when did you have a chance to talk with Chin? You were at the base all day."
"Um, not exactly. I took a couple of hours' leave this afternoon and met him down at the beach. We had a really good talk."
"You . . . You took leave time to talk with my cousin about why he's being an idiot?"
"Well, yeah, K, and he wasn't being an idiot; he was just a little scared."
"Chin? Scared? . . . Really?"
"Yeah, he's okay now; promise. So, where would you like to go for dinner?"
(Caroline, a thoughtful expression on her beautiful face, walks into their house to find Danny on the phone with Grace. Giving her husband a quick kiss on the cheek, she indicates she's going to change out of her uniform and heads to their bedroom. Danny ends his call and follows her, putting a hand on her arm to stop her just as she steps inside their bedroom door.)
"Why don't you put on something comfortable and I'll take you out to dinner?"
"Because?"
"Because I forgot to go to the grocery store on the way home and there's nothing here to cook for dinner."
"No problem. Give me five minutes, Romeo. Hey, you up on what's going on with Lana and Chin?"
"If knowing that Sam and Tony talked to Lana and Chin and now it's up to Lana and Chin to straighten things out, yeah."
"Okay, then. Wow."
"What?"
"This is going to be an interesting date; a romantic dinner with my handsome husband and then a trip to the grocery store."
"Hey, you can't say I don't plan interesting dates with my wife."
"Yeah, well, if you had remembered to go to the grocery store on the way home from work, you and your wife could be coming back home after a romantic dinner and having a romantic evening in their great big bed."
"Damn it!"
(Deciding that he wants there to be absolutely no misunderstanding on Lana's part as to how he feels about her, Chin goes about planning some very special surprises for the lady. He goes by a florist on the way to the grocery store and picks up a beautiful bouquet of red roses, greenery, and baby's breath, then picks up some nice thick rib eyes, baking potatoes and all the trimmings, and ingredients for a salad along with a couple of bottles of Lana's favorite wine. Once at her apartment, he sets the roses on the coffee table in the great room so she'll see them as soon as she walks in the door and sets about getting everything ready for a late, romantic dinner. As soon as he has the steaks marinating in the fridge, he sets the table complete with candles and then channel surfs for something to occupy his mind until it's time to start baking the potatoes. . .
Although she never minds going in to work when they are short-handed, Lana really and truly wishes that today had not been a day when she was needed. After talking with Sam at lunch earlier, she came to realize that her fears about Chin's job, while not totally unfounded, weren't going to change the way she felt about Chin one way or the other. She loves him. And Sam's right, anything can happen at any time to anyone. She cannot live her life in constant fear of 'what ifs'; not if she's going to have any kind of life at all. Praying that she and Chin can work everything out and put all this silliness about postponing the wedding behind them once she gets home, Lana throws herself into dealing with the steady flow of patients coming into the E.R. with everything from a sprained ankle to a full-blown cardiac arrest. Toward the end of her shift, Lana takes a moment to take a good look around and make sure she is current on her charting. While working in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit is intense and busy, working in the E.R. is totally chaotic and Lana is very, very glad she doesn't have to work down here too often. Satisfied that she is caught up, she spies her relief walking into the unit and, after giving the other nurse time to put her things in the Nurses' locker room, gives report and gathers her things. As she is walking out to the parking lot to her car, she is filled with a combination of fear, hope, and love, and is counting the minutes until she reaches her apartment and Chin.