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 seven
It was strange having her mother on the island, she had visited her in New Jersey many a time, and yet she had never managed to come to Hawaii before now. Any other time she saw her mother, it was either on the mainland somewhere or Rachel having gone back to England to visit with her mother.
There was always this feeling with Rachel that she could never truly get close to her mother. She had always been a Daddy's girl, and whilst she was close to her mother growing up as a child, once she became an adult, and particularly when she decided to move to the United States, she became disconnected to her mother.
It wasn't till she met Daniel that she realised she was never going to please her mother, she always seemed like her choosing to be with Daniel was the wrong choice, and it did become something that niggled at her at lot, she began to have doubts about her marriage to Danny, plus she was always so scared and worried for him.. She was afraid that Danny would lose his life in this job and she would lose a husband and Grace a father.
Marrying Stanley had been a mistake, she had never truly been in love with him, despite her efforts to fall for him the way he had her, she just couldn't. Daniel was the one man she really loved and it always seemed to be him that entered her thoughts and the fact that he decided to move himself away from Jersey to be closer to Grace..
It showed her the good in him all over again and she began to resent Stan a little, just because he always seemed to be off on the mainland even though his business had taken him to Hawaii.. When Danny fought her in taking her to Las Vegas, she secretly was happy that Danny had won that one particular battle. She didn't really want to move away from the island and to take Grace from her father again.
Though she loved her ex in laws as well in Jersey, and had enjoyed living there, she did love being in Hawaii and the fact was, Danny though he said he hated it, she could see that he enjoyed it and loved having Steve and the five-o team around him.
"So, I know you Daniel and Steve were acting as your personal security today, how did that go mother?" She asked after the waiter had been to their table and asked for their orders, and once they had ordered, Grace had taken Charlie to the bathroom so it was just Rachel and Amanda for the moment.
From the moment that Rachel had met Steve, she had a respect for him.. She didn't really hate Daniel the way that her ex husband thought she did, she had always still loved him, and that was why she portrayed herself as perhaps not liking him, to cover up the fact she still had deep feelings for him.. Stanley was always the rebound, she hadn't meant for it to happen, it just did, and it had been a whirlwind of a romance and it had swept her up and shook her to the core enough she couldn't stop it.
"It all went well.. I think very highly of Steven, he is very supportive of Daniel, I could tell straight away". Rachel nodded her head and smiled softly, it was one of those things she liked most about Steve, it was the way he took Daniel, and Grace and now even Charlie in as his own family, the children even called him Uncle and he called them his niece and nephew. "Do they always fight like an old married couple though?", she had to add with a grin.
Rachel laugher, smiling as she nodded.. "They have been like that since I first met Steve.. and he has always been protective of Danny, and also Gracie.. and even now Charlie.. They are lucky to have such a wonderful caring man in their lives". She couldn't think of a better man to be like a surrogate uncle to her children then Steve McGarrett.
That was very much the impression Amanda got from Steve as well, and hearing her grandchildren go on about him over and over in the car on the way to dinner, she could sense they were both close with him. "I had a chat with Daniel this evening before heading out to dinner with you.. We cleared the air of any issues we might have had and I did admit that I was a little jealous of you two.. and not because I wanted him, no none of that, it was because I saw Daniel to be like my father and I looked up to my own father, and wished I had met someone like him.. So I was jealous that you had met the man I had always wanted to meet".
That was a first.. Rachel had never realised that was why her mother never seemed to like him.. It was because she was jealous, not because she thought he wasn't good enough.. "Mother.. I had no idea.. why didn't you tell us all those years ago?", she leant across the table and put her hand over her mothers, looking at her.. "I was too embarrassed, I didn't want to admit I was jealous of my daughter, I mean what mother is jealous of her daughter?"
If she was honest, she was a little hurt that her own mother was jealous of her but at the same time she did understand as well.. Daniel was really her first real love, and her mother had been married several times, never able to find the right man for her, all because none of them measured up to her father.. "You told Daniel all of that as well?", she asked curiously, wondering what he thought of it.
Amanda sipped her wine and nodded, "I indeed did, he looked at me much the same way you are looking at me right now.. Though I did also ask him his intentions". It was lucky Rachel hadn't yet taken a sip of her wine, though she had been about to because she would have spat it right back out. "His intentions?" Her eyebrows raised and her heart sped up a little.
"Yes dear, his intentions, making sure he was going to do right by you.. I know he will always do right by my grandchildren but I wanted to know that he was serious about you, and he said he was". At that moment, Grace and Charlie came back, putting an end to that conversation, and yet Rachel's face had gone a pink shade and was feeling very warm.. It was something she would need to discuss with Daniel once they got back from dinner, she knew he had gone to Steve's to eat, so she hoped he wouldn't be over too late, and yet she knew she was always welcome to join them anytime as well.
Steve had always made it clear that Rachel was part of the ohana as well and that made her feel happy here on this island.. She had always wondered when she first met Steve what he thought of her, wondering what Danny had told him, but he was always willing to give her a chance and see the good in her as well and that is what made him such a good friend to Danny and made her feel safe in the knowledge Danny had a friend for life because she knew it was hard on him losing Matthew, first when he took off, and then when they found out he had been killed.
"Well, I'm so happy to finally have some time with my baby and my grand babies so let's toast and have a lovely evening shall we", Amanda smiled as she picked up her glass and looked towards her daughter and then at her grandchildren, the three of them holding up their glasses, Rachel with her wine glass and Grace and Charlie with their glasses of lemonade, the restaurant photographer snapping a photo of the four of them as they said cheers.
Author's Notes.
Thank you for being patient with this one again, I am trying to give all my stories equal time, and yet at the same time, there are some I have higher creativity and muse for.. After seeing the last episode, I really want to see Danny happy and what that looks like yet, I am not entirely sure of. I do think that Rachel and Danny are endgame ultimately, some may agree, some may not.. but I see them the same way that I see Steve/Cath and Adam/Kono.. I think I have an idea of how I want this to proceed, this one will intersect with One for sorrow and also Perfect, it can be carried either way. It is a Ranno story and it will end this way.. I was hesitant to keep it that way for a while, but my ultimate goal is to create happiness in Danny's life and I see him and Rachel ending up getting closer once Steve leaves the island to clear his head.
SteveMcGarrettLover:
Thank you very much, I am glad this one is back as well, and I am happier now that I feel I have a bit more direction with this one. I was stuck on how to keep going for a while, this one can be read as a one for sorrow/ wind of change or a perfect companion as well.