Ensoleillement
By
Landon Richardson
Official Disclaimer
The characters of Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Adam 'Toast' Charles, Amy Hanamoa, Eric Russo, Meka Hanamoa, Catherine Rollins, Joe White and anyone else within the story who might sound familiar do not belong to me in any shape or form, I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.
The character of Danni Richardson, David Richardson, Joshua Richardson, Summer Richardson, Libby Richardson, Ronnie Chen, Kevin Matthews, Lee Martin and Nurse Aliana Judd do belong to me though. I should also add that if a character is mentioned who you don't recognise from the show then they probably belong to me as well.
Author Note
Welcome to Chapter Fifteen of Ensoleillement.
Just wanted to let you know that my profile has been updated and now includes the days where I should be updating on here and also what stories I will be working on. Once a story is completed then I'll update it so please keep an eye out on it.
I'm only planning on taking one break from writing for a period of 3 weeks in August due to a big family holiday so my aim of finishing a lot of stories this year should be doable so hopefully you'll all join me in this ongoing Danni Universe!
Seeing people reviewing my work or following it or making it a favourite always keeps me going and feeds my determination to continue so thank you all!
Enjoy the chapter
Overall Summary
Danni moved with her small family to Hawaii in an attempt to get away from everything and to heal after the death of her husband. What she didn't expect was Steve McGarrett bursting into her life and taking over it. Danni isn't sure that she's ready for another relationship but that isn't going to stop Steve from trying to show her otherwise. (McDanni, feature OC and also male Danny)
Chapter Summary
"So, who was that woman then? The conversation between the two of you seemed to last quite a long time. Is she someone who you know or something?" A familiar voice queried from in front of Danielle's table, bringing her out of her thoughts of confusion.
Overall Romance
Steve McGarrett/ Danni Richardson (McDanni)
Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)
Lee Martin / Catherine Rollins (Marllins)
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Richardson (Dunni)
Mentions of past Steve McGarrett / Catherine Rollins (McRollins)
One sided Eric Russo / Ronnie Chen (Ronnic)
Chapter Romance
Steve McGarrett/ Danni Richardson (McDanni)
Lee Martin / Catherine Rollins (Marllins)
Mentions of past Steve McGarrett / Catherine Rollins (McRollins)
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Richardson (Dunni)
Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)
Another note
Please keep in mind that I don't have a Beta for this story so the odd mistake may creep in without me meaning it to. I have also never been to Hawaii so all locations are either from the show, google or made up in my own mind.
Chapter Fifteen
"So, who was that woman then? The conversation between the two of you seemed to last quite a long time. Is she someone who you know or something?" A familiar voice queried from in front of Danielle's table, bringing her out of her thoughts of confusion.
She breathed out and glanced up, a smile coming to her face when she saw Amy standing next to the table, two steaming mugs of something in her hands, one of which she placed in front of Danielle on the table before she lowered herself down onto the seat which Catherine had vacated, her dark eyes fixed on Danielle with a look which made it clear to the blonde that she was willing to wait her out if it meant getting answers to her questions.
"What Amy?" She asked, trying to buy herself some time to get her thoughts straightened, the encounter with Catherine leaving her more rattled than she had expected.
"That trick doesn't work on me Danni, I know you heard my questions and besides I have all day to wait for an answer so don't mine me." Amy stated, making a show of making herself comfortable on the chair, a grin softening her words.
"That Amy, was Catherine Rollins." Danielle told her as she placed her pen down on the pad of paper, her eyes drifting down to the address written on the page before she reached out and picked up on the mug, her eyes coming up to focus past her friend to the counter, noticing that Toast had joined Eric behind there, making the drinks while the younger man continued taking the orders. His morning break was clearly over which would also explain Amy's presence beside her since she had been next to go on break once Toast had returned.
"And who exactly is Catherine Rollins when she's at home?" Amy asked with a frown on her face. "I don't think I've heard of her before and unless she's come in before when I haven't been working then I haven't seen her here either."
"I doubt that she's been in here until today, she said that Steve has been raving about the place to her and that she was a friend of his." Danielle commented with a slight shrug at the dark-haired woman.
"A friend?" Amy repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm sure that they were more than just friends with one another." Danielle said dryly, her mouth curling up into a smile when Amy laughed at the comment.
"So, was that the only reason she came? Because he recommended it to her?"
"Actually, she wanted to apologise to me for last week, apparently she was the friend who arrived out of the blue asking for Steve's help and who felt he had to help which was what stopped him from coming to the restaurant to meet me for our date."
"What?" Amy said, her mouth falling slightly open.
"Not only that Amy but she asked me to give Steve a second chance so we could have that date." Danielle told her, as she took a sip of her drink, noting with a silent sigh of relief that Amy had gotten her a mocha, something which she had found herself craving since she woke up that morning. She leaned back in the squishy chair she was in, some of the tension easing from her shoulders.
"You're joking right?" Amy asked after a moment of silence, her eyes widening when Danielle shook her head at her. "Well, you've got to say this about her, she certainly is confident if she can just walk up to a complete stranger she's never met, sit with them and make demands of them, very confident indeed." She pointed out before she frowned slightly. "Do you think that it was McGarrett who asked her to come down here to speak to you about what happened last week?"
Danielle nibbled at her lower lip for a moment as she considered the question carefully
"I mean it's always a possibility, it's not like I know the type of relationship they have with one another. If they have a past together and she's one of his best friends then yeah I guess it's possible that there is a chance that he did ask her but I think she's probably decided to do this off her own bat, especially if she either blames herself or thinks that Steve blames her for what happened." Danielle replied slowly, before she shrugged and continued to speak. "Like I said, when it really comes down to it, I don't know Steve well and I can't claim to know how he would react to things but he seems to me like he would prefer to do things himself than rely on someone else. He would see this as his issue and want to deal with it himself."
"He definitely gives of that Alpha male vibe that's all very mysterious but yeah, from what Danny has told me, McGarrett does not ask anyone for help, even if he probably should do most of the time." Amy agreed with a nod, her hand wrapped around her own mug with a thoughtful look on her face. Danielle waited for the other woman to say something but she remained silent for the time being.
Danielle shrugged, placing her mug back on the table and picked up her notebook, flipping it back to the page which had the menu for next week which she had been working through. She added a couple of things before Amy finally spoke, attracting her attention again.
"What do you think you'll do then?" She asked.
"Do about what exactly Amy, you have to be specific then that. Are you talking about the Bakery? About us all going to dinner tonight or are we still on the topic of Steve?" Danielle questioned absently, nibbling at the end of the pen.
"Obviously I'm still talking about the McGarrett issue Danni." Amy responded with a roll of her eyes.
"Well as far as I view it I have two options available to me, either I call him and tell him that I just want friendship from him and point out, based on what happened, that we just aren't meant to be together romantically so all I can offer is friendship and if that isn't enough then I'll simply wish him well and hope he'd get the hint eventually." Danielle said, tapping the pen against one of her fingertips to emphasis her point.
"That's definitely one option, what's the second one?" Amy pressed, sounding curious.
"The second one is that I forgive him and move on from what happened and simply accept that what happened was just bad luck and timing and something that he had no choice over and that he did call me to tell as soon as he could. If that's the route I go then obviously the first thing to do is to rearrange the date, ensure it happened and see what actually happens between the two of us."
"So, which one are you going to pick, have you've given it any thought" Amy asked her finally when Danielle remained quiet.
"I've given it plenty of thought." Danielle said with a nod.
"The flowers he sent you this morning were beautiful." Amy pointed out suddenly. "And if they have just come back then it must have been one of the first things he did. So, even when he was away doing whatever it was he was doing, you were clearly on his mind."
"That's what Catherine said as well" Danielle admitted. "And you're right about the flowers, they were beautiful and thoughtful." She said, thinking back to the large bouquet of bright flowers which were currently in a vase in the backroom that has been delivered first thing that morning.
"You only send flowers like that to someone if you're genuinely sorry for something." Amy added softly, her voice coming across as calm.
"That's the thing, I've never doubted that he wasn't sorry for what happened, I could tell from that initial call when he told me that he wasn't going to make it. He sounded genuinely disappointed about it. From what Catherine was saying, she had placed him into an almost impossible situation that would end up with someone hurt."
"She could be lying." Amy commented with a shrug.
"She could be but why risk it, she would have known that if I had found out that she had lied about it that it would just harm Steve's chances even more and that seemed to be the last thing she wanted. She wouldn't have come down here to explain things if she didn't care about him." Danielle replied, picking up her mug again and taking another long sip.
"Especially if they were romantically involved in the past, you sure that they aren't involved still?" Amy asked her, almost hesitantly.
"I'm sure" Danielle replied, sounding confident.
"So, come on, hit me with the story she came down here to tell you then. You said that she told you what happened and now I want to know as well." The brunette asked, kicking her shoes off with a thankful sigh and making herself comfortable
"From what I've gathered, Catherine's boyfriend is in the military and was serving in Afghanistan when he and his Unit were taken. Word of their abduction reached Catherine, who I'm guessing is also in the Navy, and she reacted to the news by going straight to Steve and begging him to help her save her boyfriend." Danielle explained.
"Hence why you say she and Steve aren't involved anymore because she's already in a relationship." Amy said knowingly, a smile curving her mouth when Danielle nodded at her.
"Exactly, he's friends with her boyfriend as well which would have fuelled his desire to help her further. Reading between the lines I think she pulled a Star Wars on him telling him that he was her only hope to get her other half back alive." Danielle said, reaching up and hooking some stray hair behind her ear as a smile came to her face.
"I guess if that's what she said to him then you can't really blame him for needed to help her, and, as much as I hate admitting it out loud, it does seem a pretty good reason for missing your date that night." Amy said, the words sounding as though they caused her pain to say making Danielle laugh softly before she sighed.
"I can't stay angry knowing that he did what he had to do to save his friend's life though I still wish he had called me sooner." She stated.
"I'm sensing a but, you're not angry at him but there's something else." Amy said, sounding confused as she searched Danielle's eyes.
"I'm a widow Amy." Danielle said, her voice quiet as her shoulders hunched up, the tension from earlier flooding back into her. "I have to be both Mom and Dad now to Josh and Summer, Summer is too young to remember Duncan but Josh does and the loss has affected him so much, it breaks my heart to see the change in him and to know there is nothing I can really do. If I start dating Steve and things go well enough to introduce him properly to Josh and Summer then they'll both grow attached to him and want him around and if Steve has to keep letting them down due to work popping up…" Her voice trailed off; her drink forgotten in her hand as she continued to speak. "It's one thing for him to stand me up due to work but it's a completely different thing for him to do the same to my children and to let them down over something, especially if he promises them that he will be there or do something with them."
"And because of what he does as his job he can't make promises to them to be somewhere but if he was faced with them then he probably would make that promise because he wouldn't want to let them down only to then let them down, is that what you're saying." Amy asked, frowning slightly when Danielle nodded at her.
"Exactly, and they wouldn't understand that it was his job keeping him away, all they would see is that would say he would be there and then he wouldn't be which make them think it's something they've done themselves." Danielle said, sounding concerned before she sighed and continued. "And this thing with Catherine, just proves as well that there will always be people, outside of his work who need his help with things. Josh can't take anymore blows, not at the moment, if he meets Steve and gets attached to him then I don't know how Josh would react if Steve has to cancel things on him." Danielle remarked, shifting uncomfortably on the chair.
"There is that, but that is going to be the same with anyone who you meet right?" Amy pointed out softly. "And let me ask you this Danni, do you like Steve? As in you, not taking anyone else into account but based only on your feelings alone."
Danielle stayed silent, bringing an image of Steve to her mind, noting the way her heartbeat quickened in her chest as she pictured his smile.
"I do like him" She admitted on a sigh. "But I love my children more, there's nothing which is more important to me than their happiness and wellbeing, unless I can be certain that Steve can provide them with what they need then I'll need to nip what I feel in the bud now before they end up being hurt."
"You're a good mother Danni" Amy said, sounding almost sad as she reached over and patted Danielle on arm. "So, based on everything you've said and heard, have you actually decided what you want to do about the whole situation? It can't be healthy having it hanging over you constantly"
"What I'm going to do is call him sometime this week and arrange that date with him." She said, her hand tightening on her mug. "I owe it to myself to of least have tried, once I've been on that date then I'll make a decision about whether we should just be friends or something more. I've been through this in my mind so much weighing all the pros and cons up but I don't want to feel as though I haven't tried everything before making my final decision."
"Honestly Danni, I think that's probably the best thing you can do, like you said, if you don't go on a date and just decide on friendship before trying then you're always going to wonder in your head whether you made the right choice. At least if you go on the date with him then you can make a decision based on fact. The spark between the two of you is strong enough to set fire to things so I'm sure it will go well" Amy said, her mouth curling up into a grin when Danielle merely rolled her eyes at her.
"We'll have to see, Like I said, I can see why his attention would have been fixed on getting the Governor onboard with what was happening and getting his team gathered and briefed so he would have more time to search for his friend. Even I would probably have been distracted." Danielle admitted, wrinkling her nose up.
"It's a good reason but if he does it a second time to you then I should warn you that me and the others are going to head down to where he works and kick his ass on your behalf." Amy promised, the comment making Danielle laugh.
"If that happens then you would have to join the queue behind me and David because let me tell you, my brother has taken it as a personal insult that Steve didn't turn up and took so long to call me to say that he wasn't coming." Danielle told her, bringing her free hand up and rubbing tiredly at her eyes.
"You look like there's something else troubling you, did Catherine tell you something else or are you just tired?" Amy pressed after a moment, the tone of her voice bringing Danielle's eyes back up to see an expression of concern on her friend's face.
"It just something which she said about Steve before she left." Danielle admitted, leaning forward and resting her forearms on her thighs. "She said that Steve sustained an injury on his thigh again and reopened the one he had before he left on the mission, the one which he was stuck in hospital for."
"That's not good, has he gotten it checked out." Amy asked, her eyebrow raising when Danielle shook her head.
"No, apparently he's refusing to go to the hospital, even though it causing him pain which probably means that its infected."
"So why the hell is he not going to the hospital, is he stupid?" Amy stated bluntly, throwing her free hand in the air. "What the hell is it with men and their sheer determination not to take care of their health. If it something tiny like a slight cold they blow it up as though they are about to die but give them something actually serious and they just brush it off as though they think if they ignore it then it will just disappear. It's ridiculous."
"I'm guessing that you're talking from experience and that Meka is not the greatest of patients." Danielle remarked dryly with a raised eyebrow.
"You have no idea." Amy replied on a sigh before she frowned. "So did Catherine say why he was refusing medical care?" She asked.
"Nope, she just said that Danny was with him, trying his best to convince him to go." Danielle answered, meeting Amy's eyes directly, she frowned slightly when they widened and the older woman spoke.
"You want to go to him don't you." She stated, the comment more a statement then a question.
"What I want is for him to go to hospital before he ends up with blood poisoning or something. Catherine seemed to think that I might succeed where Danny has failed and make him go. He's an idiot but I don't want…" Her voice trailed off as she shook her head.
"So, go to him then" Amy said, placing her mug on the table before reaching out and taking Danielle's from her, placing it beside hers. "Go to where he lives, grab the idiot by the scruff of his neck and drag him down to the hospital if you have to, to get him checked out."
"Did you not hear a word of what I said earlier" Danielle asked, throwing her hands in the air.
"What I heard is that you like him, that you care for him and that deep down, you really want him to turn out to be everything you're hoping for and it's only the fear that he may hurt your children by not being able to be there as much as they would like, that is holding you back. Danni." Amy said reaching over and taking the younger woman's hand in hers as she met her eyes. "We both know that life is short, you more than most." She stated, tightening her grip when Danielle attempted to pull her hand back. "Finding a connection with someone once is amazing, being able to find it twice is a miracle. Don't push away something which could be exactly what you and the kids need because of fear."
A silence followed her words, Danielle breathing hard as though she had run a marathon before she spoke, her voice coming out weakly.
"I'm at work I can't just leave again due to him, not when we're busy."
"You can" Amy said calmly. "You were on the morning shift meaning that you finish anyway in an hour and I know you didn't take your break so you can easily go. Ronnie is due in shortly and she's always early anyway, there's three of us here and we can handle it. Go and get that idiot to hospital, you're only going to worry if you don't."
"Fine" Danielle said lowly, after a pause. "But this is the last time." She came to her feet, brushing her hand down her top absently, her eyes fixed on her friend, waiting until Amy met her gaze before she spoke. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, now go and do what needs to be done and then once he's in hospital, talk to him, once you've spoken to him, maybe you'll know what you want."
Danielle nodded looking at her a moment longer before she picked up her notebook and pen and headed to the back room.
Her thoughts already fixed on the upcoming battle ahead.
A battle she knew, she had to win.
Author Note
Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.
I really appreciate it