To New Beginnings

Fandom: Hawaii Five-O

Ship: Ranno

Characters (also mentioned): Danny Williams, Rachel Hollander, Grace Williams, Charlie Williams, Steve McGarrett, Stan Edwards, Five-O members.

Chapter 2: ʻOiai ka mea hōʻoia

(Always the Analyst)

Love was a strange and complicated thing, Here she was sitting there with her ex husband talking and enjoying the same meal that he cooked for her when they had their first date. Part of Rachel had never stopped loving her first husband Danny Williams, and most probably would never stop either. What had pulled her away from Danny to start with was her fear of losing him due to the ever dangerous nature of his job. It was true she had loved the fact he was a cop, and she still did, She was always so proud of him, but it was hard being a cop's wife, never sure of when and if your husband would be home, being interrupted in the middle of dinner or date night because he had to go to a crime scene.

Deciding to walk away from their marriage was never an easy decision, It wasn't because she had fallen out of love with him, it was because she was just too afraid to get that call one night or knock on the door to say he wouldn't be coming home to her and Grace. Those fears had only grown since they had Grace, and especially since when she heard about what happened on 911, not just with the towers in New York, but realizing her husband and his partner were captured and tortured, his partner Grace having been killed during that attack. It was why she agreed to name their daughter after his partner because he knew it was the only way he felt he could honor her.

Had she loved Stan? Yes, in her own way, she had loved him, though he was never her great love, and she loved him in a different way then she did Danny. Stan had represented more reassurance to her, with him she felt less scared and afraid of losing him, but apart from the honeymoon period of their relationship which only lasted about a year after they were married, they fought a lot and it just seemed that the marriage wasn't going to work out. Grace had only been six years of age when her and Danny divorced, seven by the time she remarried and then was eight when they moved to Hawaii and so she hadn't wanted to unsettle Grace yet again by telling her that her and Stan were divorcing as well.

Her feelings for Danny had always been there, but just left dormant in a way, there had been a few moments when those feelings came back up to the surface but she had pushed them back down. It had always been her fear of losing Danny which made her push him away, and why she had tried on a few occasions to change custody arrangements. She was scared that she would lose Grace as well if something happened to her while in his care, however, it was more that she was scared about how Grace would also handle losing Danny if anything happened to him. Grace had always been especially close to her father so losing him would be extremely difficult for her, so in a way she was trying to protect Grace as she had herself.

Her marriage to Stan had been failing and when she got the call about Danny in hospital, her heart had nearly broken into pieces. She had been reassured he would be fine, but it made Rachel realize that even if they weren't together, that she would still feel heart broken if she lost him. That was when their relationship changed and without even thinking about how wrong it was, she had begun an affair with her ex husband and had planned on leaving Stan. Finding out she was pregnant felt like a blessing in disguise. She had a difficult pregnancy with Grace and had been told she might find it hard to conceive again and had tried many times with Stan to fall pregnant in an attempt to save their marriage.

Her insecurities got the better of her though, and she realized that Stan would always be the safe option, especially with Danny always going off and playing hero even when he didn't need to be. It especially upset her when she had been ready to move back to Jersey with him, but yet he who didn't want to be here to start with seemed to now have made friends and partnerships and a need to help those people that he now called family. It pained her to lie to Danny, when she told him that the baby wasn't his, she had been in tears after that phone call. Explaining to Grace why they were going back to Hawaii and to Stan wasn't easy, and she questioned her decision every day and felt sick to her stomach all the time about lying.

Stan was a good father to baby Charlie and step father to Grace, however he was an absent father, having essentially chosen his career over his family. It was another thing she had begun to resent about him. Danny had done everything to remain close to Grace, moving from his home in New Jersey to Hawaii and yet when Stan was asked to move from Hawaii to Las Vegas, he had decided that on his own, he had agreed without asking or consulting her or thinking about their children or even Danny. They had fought a lot over that decision and only tried to petition the custody arrangement to appease Stan because she knew she couldn't do the move without Grace. Ultimately though she had been happy when Danny won the right to not let Grace move to Vegas because she felt home here too.

Once Stan moved to Vegas, Rachel split her time between Hawaii and Vegas, though most of her time she remained in Hawaii which ended up causing more problems with their marriage. It had been around the time Charlie got sick that they had decided a trial separation, though when they found out just how sick, they had once again attempted to reconcile. When it had been revealed to both Danny and Stan that Charlie was indeed Danny's son and not Stan, It hard been hard to tell the both of them but she needed to for her son. After hearing Danny's reaction, She knew he would stand up and be there for his son, though she wasn't sure she would ever get his forgiveness so instead she focused on Stan, telling her that he was there for her and Charlie even if he wasn't his.

It had taken an even bigger toll on their marriage, and since Rachel was more often then not in Hawaii with Grace and Charlie, Stan had decided it was the best decision to end the marriage. It had been a shock to her, and whilst she was saddened she couldn't make a second marriage work, she was relieved in a way that it was over. It hadn't been working in a long time and they had both checked out of their marriage a long time before it officially ended. Rachel remained on the Island as it had become her home and she was also respecting that this was Danny's and the kids home and they had family and friends here now as well that she could never take them away from. It might not be a conventional family but she had to admit, they were all there for their kids and for Danny.

Now here she was, celebrating with her ex husband and his adopted family the fact their daughter was alive and well on her way to recovery and it had made her really stop and think about everything. How she felt about Danny, How badly she had treated him over the years, How unfair she had been on him, and how despite her not wanting Grace to be around Danny because his job was dangerous and didn't want her to be hurt, it was whilst Grace had meant to be staying under her roof that this had happened, and she realized that Danny had been right, that it was because of his job, she stayed safe and justice had been served. This proved it, If she hadn't had a cop for a father, They might not have found the guy who had been harassing Grace and her friend.

How to apologize? How did she even begin to make amends? Could this be a fresh start for them? Did he even still feel the same about her that she did for him? They had grown closer over the week that Grace had been in hospital, but still she was unsure what it meant. His girlfriend Melissa was no longer in the picture, Grace had mentioned that at some point when Danny was taking Charlie to the bathroom. It was something she had thought about a lot, and now washing the dishes as Danny said goodbye to their last guest of the evening, the kids both tucked up in bed already, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, leaning his chin on her shoulder, and pressed a kiss to her cheek, "You look exhausted Rach, why don't you go grab another bottle of wine, and go pick a movie for us to watch. I'll finish up here".

Nodding her head, she smiled softly, remembering how on their first date, it was her standing behind him and now he was doing the same. Maybe things would be fine between them. He wasn't kicking her out now that there was no one else around, he seemed to want her to be here, and that was just fine with her. Turning her head lightly, she kissed his cheek back and waited till he took a step back to let her move, she walked over to the fridge and got another bottle of wine out and took their glasses into the living room and set them down on the coffee table, then moving to go pick a movie, smiling as she picked out their favorite movie, the movie that they watched on their second date, Mickey Blue Eyes, unaware that Danny had been watching her with a smile of his own.

Author Notes:

Thank you all for your encouragement and excitement with this story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I decided to do this chapter from Rachel's POV because before we got any further, I wanted to try to explain why she might have behaved in certain story lines. Whatever the reasons are, and if they are anywhere near close to how she actually felt, I know a lot of people might say it isn't justified but in her mind, it might have felt justified to her. I also wanted to show that she feels bad about it as well. I am glad to know there are Ranno or Dachel however you want to call them shippers out there that want to see their happy ending.

Shout outs:

Sabine68

Thank you for the review, I appreciate it a lot and hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Navymcroll:

I agree with you there, I believe they are end game as well. Though they might fight and argue, and we might feel for Danny at how Rachel has treated him, he obviously still loves her despite it all and I think the reason why it never seemed to be working with Stan was because she was still in love with Danny.

Specks10:

Thank you, I hop you continue to enjoy it.

Sarai:

Thank you, I appreciate your review.