CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

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 26, 2011

(Two hours later, Sam gets back to the hospital looking a little rough around the edges. Anger is radiating off of her in waves, but she puts a bright smile on her face and does her best to be sociable. However, her husband, her mother, and her father are not fooled for a minute and exchange concerned looks. They choose, however, to let the subject drop as Sam obviously doesn't want to talk about it, and Steve and Mike ask for her input on the ideas they've come up with about the remodel. They talk for another half hour or so, and then Steve, seeing that Libby is tiring, offers to take his wife to lunch. They go to an open-air café not far from their house that specializes in fresh seafood and Steve waits until they are seated at an outdoor table with glasses of iced tea in front of them before he brings up the subject of Sam's visit to Flight Ops.)

"What's up, Sam?"

"Nothing I can't handle, Steve."

"Sam."

"Really, Steve, I got it."

"Talk to me, Sam."

"God, you're like a dog with a bone sometimes!"

"Sam. Talk to me."

"When Caroline and I talked with Adm. Henderson about taking Emergency Leave, we told him we'd rather not share the reason we were taking leave with the air group. I mean, after all, the tumors could have turned out to be benign and we didn't want didn't want anyone to think we were so worried about Mom that we couldn't do our jobs. Plus, Mom asked us to keep it low-key. Of course, Adm. Henderson knew what was going on, and I told Lt. Monroe because, as my Executive Officer, he needed to know the nature of my leave so he could better determine if he needed to contact me about my squadron, but no one else knew."

"Makes perfect sense to me. So what happened?"

"A new group of pilots arrived at Pearl yesterday."

"Oh, I'm so going to hurt him!"

"No, Steve, you're not. I've got this."

"Fine. Tell me."

"Joel Thorne, as acting CAG, gave them the whole 'Welcome to Pearl, here's what to expect' speech and, as is tradition, the CAG took them all out for the 'unofficial' welcome last night. Some of my pilots, including Lt. Monroe, went along to make sure Thorne didn't do or say anything he shouldn't and. . ."

"What did Thorne do, Sam?"

"He started shooting tequila, and, about four shots later, he proceeded to tell the new kids that the CAG was in Adm. Henderson's back pocket. He also said that the only reason I was the CAG was because my father was an Admiral and pulled some strings, and then he told them that they should come to him, even when I got back from leave, if they needed anything. Said the only reason Caroline and I took leave was to, and I quote, 'stay in bed all day and screw our husbands'=."

"I am so going to hurt him!"

"Damn it, Steve, do you want to hear this or not?"

"Sorry. Go on."

"At that point, Lt. Monroe stepped in and explained that Lt. Cmdr. Thorne wasn't feeling well and they should excuse him. He tried to get Thorne to leave, but Thorne said he was just fine and that, if Lt. Monroe didn't leave, he'd have him brought up on charges. So, Monroe left, but Lt. Cmdr. Radner was there, so he tried to get Thorne to leave."

"I take it that didn't work, either."

"No, and, this morning, Thorne filed charges against both Monroe and Radner for insubordination. Told Adm. Henderson he'd go around him if the Admiral didn't submit the charges to JAG."

"He didn't!"

"He did."

"What Henderson do?"

"He told Thorne to go ahead and try to go around him, and that he was dangerously close to being brought up on charges himself. The Admiral wanted to talk to me because he wants to go ahead and tell the air group exactly why Caroline and I are on leave so he can put Thorne's accusations to rest."

"And you told him . . .?"

"I told him that Thorne was an ass, and a drunken one at that, and that it was grossly unfair to me and to Caroline to ask us to reveal something that was personal and that our mother had asked us not to, and then I told him I'd talk with Mom and Caroline and get back to him. Of course, now the new pilots all think that Caroline and I are nymphomaniacs who can't keep their minds off their husbands long enough to fly."

(Steve can't help it and a grin bursts forth on his handsome face as he reaches across the table and takes Sam's hand in his. His grin widens when he sees the anger that's evident in her emerald green eyes. Quite the little spitfire he's married too; damn, but he's a lucky man.)

"Sam, I'm sure that, between Lt. Monroe and Lt. Cmdr. Radner, and the rest of your pilots and RIOs, they'll straighten this out with the new kids. And if any of the new pilots do believe Thorne, they're idiots. When they meet you and Caroline, they'll see that the two of you are outstanding officers and aviators and Thorne is an ass."

"Yeah, well, now I have to explain all this to Mom and Caroline, and, while Mom will probably just smile and say something like, 'It's all right, dear, go ahead and tell your pilots why you were on leave', Caroline's going to want to cut Thorne's balls off!"

"Yeah, she is. This is going to be good."

"Steve!"

"Sorry, just had an interesting visual for a second there."