"FOREVER AND ALWAYS"

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Title: "Forever and Always"

Author: Michelle Heath

Rating: MA for adult situations and language

Summary: Story #5 in the Salvation Series. Sam/Steve, Caroline/Danny, Kono/Tony, Chin/Lana and the rest of the gang!

Disclaimer: I so do not own Hawaii Five-0; unfortunately! All original characters are the sole property of the author!

Date Written: May 23, 2011

(Libby has convinced Sam that it will be perfectly all right for Sam to lay her head on Libby's bed and Sam does so because, frankly, she's just about to collapse. Looking down into her daughter's beautiful but tear-stained face, Libby feels an almost overwhelming rush of motherly love and fierce protectiveness. Ever so gently, Libby brushes Sam's hair back from her face and offers Sam a loving smile.)

"Do you want to talk about it, Sweetheart?"

"Talk about what, Mom? The fact that I am one, totally messed up human being? Or the fact that I am a completely selfish individual? I mean, here you are lying in a hospital bed after just having major surgery, and I'm not being supportive of you at all!"

"Sam, of course you're being supportive. You're here, aren't you? Honey, I know that this whole experience has been just as hard on you as it has on me. I would have given anything to have spared you this."

"No, see, Mom, that's so totally wrong! I would have given anything to have spared you this! I'm a grown woman, an officer in the United States Navy! I command an entire air group; for God's sake! You'd think I'd have just a little more self-control!"

"Yes, dear, you are all of those things and so much more, but you're human, as well. You went through something horrible when you were still, for all intents and purposes, still a child. Something no one, particularly a seventeen year old girl, should ever have to experience. You had every right to lose control then and you every right to do so now. I'm just so very thankful that you have Steve and your family here for you; especially me. And I am here for you, Sam. I always will be."

"I love you, Mom, so much."

"I love you, too, Samantha. . . I don't want you to ever think you have to hide your feelings from me. I'm a lot tougher than you think I am, Sam, so is your father. Never, ever be afraid to share anything with us, Sweetheart, please. Promise me."

"I promise."

"Good girl. I'd hate to think what Danny would have to say. Knowing him, he'd go off on some rant about honesty and accountability, and none of us would ever hear the end of it! Your poor sister would go stark, raving mad!"

(And Libby accomplishes exactly what she set out to do which was to get a smile out of Sam.)

"Caroline loves Danny, Mom; enough to put up with his endless ranting and raving."

"Yes, well, I love him, too. Doesn't mean I want to be around when he goes off on a tangent. . . Sam, I have a ways to go with my recovery, but I am going to be well again. It would be foolish of me, or any of us, to think that my getting completely well is going to happen overnight, but it will happen. I know that you want to be strong for me and your father and your sister, but, just remember, we're all here for you, too. It's something we need to do, and you're going to have to let us."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Danny said it so well the other night; we're a family and we're always there for one another through the good times as well as the bad."

"Yes, we are. Danny has really surprised me during all of this. He's a pretty amazing man."

"Yes, he is. Both of my sons-in-law are amazing men. I'd say you and Caroline have struck gold as far as husbands are concerned."

"Indeed, we have. I don't know what I'd do without Steve; he's my other half. Nothing is right without him."

"And he feels exactly the same way about you, dear. I'd say that you and Caroline and I are all very blessed. Men like Steve, Danny, and Mike don't come along every day, and I hope you and Caroline are as much in love with Steve and Danny thirty years from now as I am with your father."

"Hey, Mom? I don't think that's going to be a problem at all."

(When the rest of Libby's family walks back into her room, Sam's color has returned, her tears are gone and her emerald eyes are sparkling with life, and she and her mother are laughing. Steve is greatly relieved because, after the story Mike just shared with him in the cafeteria, he was fully expecting to find his wife in the middle of an emotional meltdown. Walking over to give Libby a kiss on the cheek, Steve slides an arm around Sam's slender waist as she stands up and gives him a sweet smile. Mike has resumed his place at the other side of Libby's bed, and he sends Sam a paternal smile full of understanding and love. Danny, wanting to lighten the mood and knowing that, in spite of what she says, Libby needs to rest, decides to play social secretary for the group.)

"Okay, I'm sensing that Mike wants to be alone with his wife so he can, you know, talk some trash or something, so I think the rest of us need to disappear. Besides, I'm starving."

"Mike doesn't talk trash, dear. He's a man of action."

"O-kay. Well then, it's definitely time for us to disappear. Love you, Libby."

(Danny walks over and kisses his mother-in-law on the cheek amid the laughter that is filling the room and then gently shoves his wife in her mother's direction so she can do the same. In short order, Caroline, Sam, and Steve have given Libby a kiss and Sam and Caroline have hugged their father and they are out the door. Once they're gone, Mike pulls a chair up to Libby's bedside and takes his wife's hand in both of his. She is struck, once again, by how blue his beautiful eyes are and smiles at how much love she sees in them.)

"How do you do it, Libby? How do you always manage to fix whatever it is that's wrong with me and our girls?"