Fighting for Eden
I changed some things from Ali's past to fit the plot of the story. I thought it would be better for it to take place in a small town. Love everyone who has been patient and for any usual readers, Covert Ops will be updated soon! I watched the show Jericho and thought, what if Five-0 was thrusted in the same situation?
Chapter 1: When Things Fall Apart
Ali McGarrett awoke beside her husband, Steve, on the morning of her high school reunion in Eden, Texas. The couple was in the home of Ali's cousins', Vikki and Katie Lipinski. She did not want to attend the reunion, but she wanted Steve to meet people she had gone to high school with. Part of her wanted him to know somebody who was not in the Navy or in law enforcement, like the McGarrett's were. The other part just wanted to go back home to Oahu before they saw anybody she used to know.
"You excited to see your old friends?" Steve questioned as he slipped on his sleeveless shirt that had "Navy SEAL" printed across in yellow.
"I'd be happier shooting or arresting some of them," Ali sneered as Steve laughed.
The sad part was that it was true. She wanted to be home in Hawaii, working with Steve and the rest of their Five-0 task force. This made her ask herself, how much did a person have to hate her roots to prefer being at work?
"People ask why Ali Sarna, Steve? I tell them she's just got that charm," he smiled, taking her hand in his and kissing it. This daily, morning ritual made her blush every time; Steve was a man who always had to have a tough façade, but Ali loved that he let it go for her.
"Nobody asks you that," Ali kissed his cheek and strolled out of the bedroom in her black leggings and oversized t-shirt. "I'm going to go see if Vikki's up."
Vikki's home had two-stories and was yellow with a Victorian style. It came with a wraparound porch. The upstairs that Ali was walking through had four bedrooms, two on each side of the hall, a bathroom near the staircase. The floor was made of a dark oak and the walls were painted canary yellow. There was white molding around each doorway, making everything seem more cheerful. There was a string that hung from the ceiling, which would bring down a set of stairs that led to the attic if it was pulled. At the end of the hall there was a window that overlooked a large tree with a tire swing that the three girls used to play on as children.
Katie walked out of the last room and smiled at Ali. The two women both had blonde hair and blue eyes, but Ali's hair was wavy while Katie's was pin straight. Katie was also taller than Ali and a little wider. Katie was younger than her cousin by two years and worked at Eden Elementary School as a third grade teacher.
"Good morning," Ali said.
"Good morning," Katie replied. "Eric's still asleep, he heard Steve get up earlier and felt bad for oversleeping."
Eric was Katie's live-in boyfriend. He was Ali's old classmate and returned to Eden after college, like most people from the town did. He would be attending the reunion which meant Katie would be too.
"Oh no, Steve's afraid that his diet will make him fat if he doesn't wake up at five to run or swim," Ali laughed.
"Eric went on a run with him," Katie explained. "Said he had a hard time catching up to your husband. "
"That's a sign that the US Navy is doing a good job with training the SEALs," Ali remarked. "I would have gone with them, but I had morning sickness."
"You're pregnant?" Katie arched a brow.
"Yeah, a little over two months," Ali smiled, thinking of what her baby would look like. Maybe it would be a little girl with long, dark hair and blue eyes. Ali could put little bows in her hair and help her with makeup in high school. Or maybe it would be a little boy with short dark hair and blue eyes! Steve would teach him how to play football, how to surf and their son would run around mimicking Steve's every move, saying he wanted to be a SEAL when he grew up.
"That's exciting! We can totally throw a baby shower before you leave tomorrow afternoon! Vikki can call up Betty to bring down some things from her store!" Katie enthusiastically said.
Ali hadn't thought of Betty in ages. She was an older woman who owned Eden's grocery store. When the girls were growing up, Betty always gave them a free lollipop.
"Hello," Steve said as he came out from the guest room, squeezing past both women.
"Why isn't Eric like that," Katie said with a sad look on her face.
Is there something wrong with Eric? Ali thought when she noticed the look on Katie's face. Her expression told the former spy that she was not as happy in the relationship as Eric seemed to be. She brushed the awkwardness away and headed downstairs. She had to figure out how to keep a cool façade up for the reunion which was that night. Besides, in a town like Eden that had a population of four thousand people, one of their nosey classmates would know and bring it up that night.
I did not miss this place, Ali internally sighed, remembering Eden.
Eden, Texas was one of those small towns where everybody knew each other through somebody else. Fifty miles west of Austin, it was always hot, but drastically different from the Hawaiian warmth. In Hawaii, Ali had the beach, it rained and there was a breeze from the Pacific. Here, in Eden, everything was dry. Ali hated how far apart everything was. The nearest neighbor was about one city block down, if you excluded the empty house across the dirt road. Downtown consisted of about four blocks that had the mayor's office, city hall, the elementary school (the high school had been demolished and the teenagers had to either attend school in the next town or the private school on the outskirts of town), the police station along with the fire department, a grocery store, a bar and exactly one hall that accommodated black tie events. It was a booming metropolis for someone who came from an even smaller town, but to Ali it was a bore. That's why people spent so much time gossiping and knew everything about everyone. She could not wait until she and Steve would leave the next day.
When Ali entered the kitchen she saw her cousin, Vikki, standing with her red hair down wearing sweat pants. Vikki usually was in clothes that made her look put together and her hair was always up. Something was wrong.
"What's up?" Ali asked.
"The new guy across the street, Michael Donovan or whatever, his German shepherd attacked my cat!"
"Jesus," Ali sighed. She felt bad Vikki for losing her cat, but secretly she was happy that the feline had been hurt. It was mean and scratched anybody who tried to be nice to it.
"We finally got a neighbor?" Katie asked.
"Yeah, I don't like him," Vikki remarked. "He's tall, talks funny and thinks he's hilarious."
Ali glanced out the kitchen window, where she could see Mr. Donovan's new home. There was an enormous German shepherd running around on the porch. At least now Vikki and Katie weren't isolated. Maybe Michael Donovan was nice.
"You look beautiful," Steve quietly remarked to Ali when she descended the stairs that evening.
Ali felt beautiful in a one shoulder, sapphire gown, but she couldn't stop staring at her husband. He wore his naval dress blues. His dark hair was combed to the side, his blue eyes seemed to twinkle and he appeared so confident.
"Thanks," Ali blushed as Katie approached in a black gown with Eric, who was wearing an expensive looking black suit. "But I'm sure you look better."
"You guys ready?" Eric asked.
It had been the first time Ali had really seen Eric in the house. He was a man of a medium stature with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was buff, he had obvious muscles beneath his suit. He was a good man, trying to help everybody in any way he can, always talking about how he loved Katie. Why would her cousin have a problem?
"Might as well get this over with," Ali jested, leading the way out of the house.
"And Ali," Eric caught her attention before she stepped outside.
"Darcy, Ceci and Kaylee, they haven't changed much since high school," Eric warned her.
"I'm a big girl, I can fight my own battles," Ali assured.
When the group arrived at the one fancy hall in town, Ali was afraid to speak to the people she left behind a decade ago. There was a group of women she recognized as the girls she used to eat lunch with, some of them had dyed their hair different colors. Then there were a few men who were significantly taller than they had been in their senior year.
"Ali Sarna?" she heard an uncharacteristically deep voice that belonged to Cecilia "Ceci" Calloway, Ali's former friend who had done nothing but let Ali down. She had dyed her hair a dark brown color, most likely to mimic Darcy O'Hanna. However, the color made Ceci appear sick and washed out.
"Hello," Ali said, trying very hard not to tell her ex- friend how much of a tyrant, queen bee she truly had been and, from what Eric had told her, still was.
"You have not changed much!" Ceci exclaimed. "I mean you look a little plumper, but I'm sure it's just your eating habits have caught up with you!"
Ali sneered, but refrained from saying anything. She didn't want to ruin a special night for her classmates by arguing with Ceci. She would live with the satisfaction of knowing her eating habits were fine and that Ceci's remark meant the baby was growing. While Ali was beginning her family with Steve, the egotistical woman had a broken marriage with Seth Calloway that was due to his indiscretions. Seth cheated on Ceci with different women in Eden and Ceci… well she must have been going through a rough time trying to raise Aaron, her son, on her own.
"It's always good to see you, Ceci," Ali said. "How's Seth?"
Ceci's face dropped, making the spy realize she just asked the one question that the entire city of Eden avoided asking. She hadn't meant to ask it, but she was thinking about Seth cheating, at the same time she forgot and the question just slipped out. Ceci, however quickly put on her signature fake smile.
"Seth is fine. Who is that?"
Ali saw Ceci was pointing at Steve, who was talking with Eric a few feet behind her.
"That's my husband, Steve," Ali answered as he came over and smiled at Ceci.
"Hi, Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett," Steve extended his hand.
"Ceci Calloway," Ceci answered shaking his hand and giving him a smile.
After taking a few more backhanded compliments from Ceci, Ali dragged Steve to their assigned table where the company seemed friendlier. The McGarrett's sat with Katie and Eric, a short, brunette named Anne along with her burly husband, Harry Davis, and Ali's petite friend, Marisa, who came with her husband whom Ali didn't recognize.
"Ali," Anne called out to her. "You going to give us his name!?"
Ali laughed taking Steve's hand in hers. After a decade, people in Eden acted as if they had seen her yesterday. She didn't know whether to think that they didn't mind her being gone or whether they wanted to enjoy the time they had now. She couldn't demand the latter, she really hadn't missed anybody aside from Vikki and Katie.
"This is Steve. Babe, that's Anne, Harry, Marisa and-"
"Charlie," Marisa introduced her husband. "We came today from Chicago."
"Chicago's always fun!" Ali remarked, happy that she hadn't been the only one that left.
"So Steve? How did she trick you into marrying her?" Harry jested as Ali laughed.
"Oh you know," Steve smiled. "We made a deal that we wouldn't get married and I lost."
Ali jokingly slapped her husband's arm as he held up his hand, "But she doesn't know I lost on purpose."
"Why can't you say sweet things like that," Anne accusingly asked Harry.
"I say sweet things all the time!" Harry defended himself.
" 'Morning wife, the hair looks good' is not a sweet thing," Anne complained, making everybody laugh.
The evening was filled with laughter as the table caught up with each other, demanded stories about important events from one another. Ali was glad that she sat at a table where there was another out of state couple. It brought more variety to the conversation. If she were sitting somewhere else, everybody would already know what was going on with everyone else since they all lived in Eden. She learned that Anne and Harry had three children, their oldest would be in Katie's classroom next year. Marisa had gone to school in New York, became a pharmacist and moved to Chicago upon graduation, where she met Charlie. Ali already knew Katie and Eric's life story. However, whenever people asked her any questions about her job, Ali had to tell them she became a nurse because they were not allowed to know she used to be a spy. Now that there was a baby on the way she wanted a career that didn't include any guns… or lying.
"I'd be more worried about the illegal immigrants like Ali taking away jobs than any country invading the U.S," Harry said during the table's conversation about the United States' national security.
"Hey! Enough with the immigrant jokes! I was born here, I'm just Polish!" Ali laughed.
"No, but we know nothing about North Korea," Charlie pointed out.
Oh but we do and it would shock you, Charlie, Ali thought.
"What do you mean?" Katie asked. "We know they're brainwashed to think their dictator is their god."
Steve's phone rang out of the blue when Katie finished her statement and he excused himself to take the call. When he returned he glanced at Ali with a concerned look and signaled her to follow him.
"What?" she quietly asked when they were far enough away from everybody.
"Our flight was cancelled for tomorrow, so I rescheduled a flight for you in two days," he informed her.
Ali arched a brow when he said 'a flight for you'.
"Where will you be?" she asked.
"My old SEAL team leader called, he needs me to be in D.C tonight and fly to Kiev tomorrow morning for an operation," Steve explained as Ali felt her heart drop in her chest.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know what exactly is happening, I just know they're sending men overseas to the Ukraine," he told her.
"Steven," Ali grabbed his hand and held on to it tightly.
Whenever the government sent men overseas, it meant something bad was going on. Ali worked alongside Steve for three years on the task force. There were many dangerous moments, but this was the first time he was leaving on an operation as SEAL. She was pregnant and, granted, she was only two months into the pregnancy, but she didn't want Steve to miss anything. What if she spontaneously gave birth?
That's not going to happen, she thought, scorning her anxiety and the things it made up.
"It'll be fine," he kissed her forehead. "I'll leave when we're done here."
"It's okay, there's like half an hour left," Ali sighed. "Let's go back to Vikki's and I'll drive you to Austin."
"No, it's okay, I'll take the bus. You don't have to drive there and back," he assured her.
The couple returned to their table, explained their situation and left after saying goodbye. Since the car they arrived in belonged to Katie, Ali and Steve decided that they would walk the two miles to Vikki's home. As they walked hand in hand, Ali realized this was the last time she would be with him for a while. She didn't want her husband to go, but at the same time she was proud of the work he did.
"I love you," she blurted out.
He grinned, "I love you."
Ali sat on Vikki's couch watching T.V while her cousin worked on paperwork. Vikki worked in city hall as a lawyer. It had been a little over an hour since Steve left, which would mean he should already be at the airport in Austin.
The front door flew open and Katie ran inside, screaming, "Turn on the T.V!"
"It's on-"
Ali was interrupted by Katie shoving her off of the couch and sitting down.
"Christ, it's not like I'm carrying a child or anything," Ali remarked as Katie shushed her.
"Katie what's happen-"
"Shhhh!" Katie quieted Vikki. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
"What's going on?! Where the hell is Eric?" Vikki demanded.
"There's a giant mushroom cloud when you look east, from Austin!" Katie shouted.
Ali felt her mouth fall open. She quickly lunged for her phone that was on the coffee table by the couch and dialed Steve's number. There was no ring, just a robotic voice telling her that the number she dialed was not available and to leave a voicemail.
"He's not answering," Ali began to hyperventilate.
"I'm sure it's fine," Vikki assured. "Look the U.S is the safest country, it could have been something else-"
Ali ignored her cousin and bolted upstairs. She yanked the string to bring out the stairs to the attic and ran up those. There was a window that was above the roof of the porch, Ali opened it and stepped out on the roof to see what was happening. She let out a cry when she saw the menacing cloud of fire and smoke that Katie notified her about. She should have made him stay, told him to spend another night with her. He would have done it for her.
"Steven!" she cried, tears beginning to stream down her face.
Why would Austin, Texas be nuked? Why would someone attack a city in Texas? There were so many other important cities like New York. Why Austin? Why today?