CHAPTER FOUR
Title: "Salvation: Forever and Always: Elusive Dreams"
Author: Michelle Heath
Rating: MA for adult situations and language
Summary: Story #9 in the Salvation series. The bonds of family bring the Five-0 ohana even closer.
Disclaimer: I so do not own Hawaii Five-0; unfortunately! All original characters are the property of the author!
Date Written: July 7, 2012
(Steve is standing in the hall talking with Kono when Danny arrives at work the next morning looking none the worse for the wear. In fact, Danny appears to be in a fairly decent mood, and Steve is a little puzzled. After the phone call Sam got from Caroline last night, Steve was sure Danny would be in a foul mood this morning. Excusing himself to Kono, Steve follows Danny into his office and parks his six on the edge of Danny's desk.)
"Hey."
"Hey. Need something?"
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay this morning."
"Because?"
"Because Caroline called Sam last night."
"Ah. . . I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some phone calls to make."
"You sure you're okay? 'Cause we can, you know, talk about it if you want?"
"I'm fine, Steven, and, no, I do not want to talk about it."
" 'Kay. . . Listen, Danny, if. ."
"I'm. Fine."
"Okay, okay, I'm going."
"Okay. Oh, I'm going to be leaving a little early today."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Just because."
"Danny, I'm your boss, it's a reasonable question. . Why are you leaving early?"
"So your wife will be happy."
" 'Cuse me?"
"I didn't stutter. I'm leaving early today so your wife will be happy."
"That doesn't make the first bit of sense, Danny."
"It makes perfect sense, Steven."
"Not to me, it doesn't. Wanna explain it?"
"Nope."
"Danny. . ."
"Steven. . ."
"How is your leaving early going to make Sam happy?"
"It just is."
"Danny!"
"What?"
"Let's start over. You want to leave early today and won't tell me, your boss, why yet you tell me it will make my wife happy. Please explain how!"
"Think about it, Steven. If my wife, who is your wife's sister, is unhappy, your wife is unhappy."
(The light goes on inside Steve's head and he's beginning to figure out what Danny's up to and quickly gets on board.)
"Need any help?"
"Nope. I'm perfectly capable of planning and executing this op all by myself, thank you."
"Okay, but the first thing I would do is send her flowers."
"They're already on their way to the base."
(Sending his brother-in-law an approving grin, Steve leaves Danny's office and heads to his own so he can call Sam and bring her up to speed. . . .
Caroline is sitting in her office at the naval base staring at her computer screen but has absolutely no idea what's on it. She's miserable and can't seem to get it together. This is definitely not a good thing as she has a good bit of paperwork to do before flying training exercises after lunch. Wishing Sam didn't have the day off so she could take a few steps down the hall and into Sam's office to talk with her, Caroline sighs heavily and mentally forces herself back to reality. She actually manages to complete one report before her mind wanders back to the events of the previous evening and that morning. Danny was quite calm this morning when she left their bedroom and headed into the kitchen to find that he had breakfast ready and waiting for her. In fact, he acted as if the fight they had the night before had never happened and he hadn't spent the night in the guestroom. As soon as she set foot in their kitchen, Danny had grabbed her and kissed her soundly before giving her a gentle nudge toward the table and pouring her a cup of coffee. She had tried to apologize, but he had deflected their conversation to whether or not she was going to be flying that day and if she would be getting off-duty at the usual time. He then shooed her into the bedroom to finish getting ready for work while he cleaned up the kitchen and gave her another reasonably serious kiss before getting into the Camaro and backing out of the garage leaving her to stare at him in stunned disbelief. Caroline's reverie is interrupted by a knock on the door to her office. Looking up, Caroline sees a young Petty Officer holding a huge arrangement of colorful flowers. Asking the young man to sit the flowers on her desk and thanking him, Caroline plucks the envelope holding the card from the flowers and slips the card out to read the message. A smile touches her face and she gets a little misty-eyed as she looks at her husband's handwriting on the card and reads the words, "We'll get through this, Gorgeous. I love you, Danny". Picking up the phone, Caroline calls Danny's cellular phone but it goes straight to voice mail. She then calls the Five-0 office, but Kono tells her that Danny's testifying in court and will probably be tied-up most of the morning. Realizing that she's going to have to wait until later to talk with her husband, thank him for the flowers, and, most importantly, apologize for her extremely bad behavior the night before, Caroline finds that she's no longer miserable and completes all her reports with plenty of time to spare before she has to be "wheels up". . . .
Steve is just about to hit the speed dial for Sam when her name and number pop up on his cellular phone's caller I.D.)
"Hey, Beautiful. I was just about to call you."
"You're in trouble, Sailor."
"I am?"
"You are. You left the house without kissing me goodbye this morning."
"I kissed you goodbye, Sam. You were asleep, but I kissed you. Promise."
"Why didn't you wake me up, Steve?"
"You looked so beautiful, Sweetheart, and, after I kept you up half the night and then you nursed Emily at four, I thought I'd let you get some rest."
"Steve, I've been nursing Emily on a regular schedule for the past six months and making love with you all night long has never made me tired. I appreciate you wanting to be considerate, Sailor, but I would much rather have been able to look into your amazing eyes and felt your arms around me right before you kissed me goodbye this morning."
"Noted. Won't happen again, Sam. Can you get away for lunch?"
"I don't see why not. Rosa's here with Emily and Eric and the only thing I have on my schedule is Emily's check-up this afternoon."
"Okay, then, where would you like me to take you for lunch, Mrs. McGarrett?"
"The Marina Grill. That okay with you, Sailor?"
"Perfect."
"I get the impression there's more to this invitation that just having lunch, Steve. What's up?"
"Danny."
"I completely forgot about Caroline and Danny! Is he okay this morning?"
"Yeah, he's fine; but he's up to something, Sam."
"Maybe that's a good thing."
"Maybe. . . Meet you at eleven-thirty."
" 'Kay. I love you, Sailor."
"Love you, too, Beautiful. Give my daughter a kiss for me."