CHAPTER ELEVEN

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 10, 2012

(Danny leaves his in-laws' house with a better understanding of what's driving his wife and a deeper appreciation and love for both Libby and Mike. He truly had not stopped to think what it must have been like for the first ten years of Caroline's life; not having brothers or sisters to play with or fight with or share secrets with, moving every two or three years from one base to another and never really being able to form lasting friendships with anyone, constantly being the "new kid" on the block and at school, being taunted and teased by other children because she was an only child, wanting so much to "fit in" and be a real part of the group instead of standing on the outside looking in; it must have been an incredibly difficult existence for her. And even though, as an adult, she is part of a loving family with a mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, and niece, husband, and step-daughter, in addition to their Five-0 ohana, Caroline somehow feels that she still has to work at "fitting in", and having a baby, as did her sister, seems to be the one thing that will help her do so. Danny's heart twists painfully as he imagines the many hurts his wife may have suffered as a young child and he has a sudden desire to see Caroline and hold her in his arms and do his best to soothe away all of her hurts; real or imagined, including any for which he may be responsible. . .

Caroline is not in her office nor on the flight line when Danny gets to the base and Sam is in a meeting with Adm. Henderson. Sam's secretary tells Danny that Caroline may have gone down to the beach not far from the Flight Ops building as she sometimes does during lunch and Danny heads in that direction. He sees her almost immediately and the sight of her slumped shoulders and bowed head as she slowly walks along the shoreline cuts him deeply. He starts walking in her direction and has almost reached her when she turns around to start heading back toward Flight Ops. She is surprised to find her husband standing a little less than six feet from her and her surprise is reflected in her face.)

"Danny. What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk, Caroline."

"Now?"

"It's important."

"You're still angry at me."

"No! No, Caroline, I'm not, but you may be angry with me. . . I went to see your parents this morning. I told them that we'd been at odds these past few weeks, and I told them why. I went to them because I wanted to see if they could help me understand why having a baby was so important to you."

"I see. And were they able to help you?"

"Yeah. They shared some things about your childhood with me, and I think I'm beginning to understand how hard it must have been for you when you were a little girl."

"You went to see my parents, told them we were fighting because I want to have your baby, they then told you about my childhood, and now you feel sorry for me. God, my humiliation is complete! How could you, Danny? How could you talk to my parents, of all people, about our problems? Who else have you talked to? Sam? Steve? Chin? Kono?"

"Caroline, I only went to Libby and Mike because I love you!"

"You have a damned funny way of showing it, Danny! Why don't you just go on the local talk radio show or take out an ad in the newspaper, or post a video on YouTube©, for God's sake! Go ahead, tell the whole world that our marriage is falling apart!"

"Last night didn't mean a damned thing to you, did it?"

"Last night meant a great deal to me, Danny, but it obviously didn't mean that much to you! . . How could you have done this? How could you have hurt me like this?"

"Caroline, I didn't go to your parents to hurt you; I went to them to ask them to help me!"

"I can't talk about this right now. I have a meeting in five minutes."

"Fair enough. We'll talk about it when we both get home tonight. I do love you, Caroline, with all my heart."

"I have to go."

(And so saying, Caroline sweeps by Danny making an obvious effort to keep from touching him. Sighing heavily, Danny slowly walks back to his car praying the whole way that, once she's had a chance to calm down and think about what he said, Caroline will realize that his actions weren't malicious and they can talk this out. . .

Caroline does not have a meeting; she simply needed to get away from her husband before she said something they'd both regret. Anger and hurt flood through her and she is fighting hard to keep from crying as she quickly enters the Flight Ops building and heads into her office closing the door behind her. Danny went to her parents and gave them intimate details about their marriage behind her back! God, but what her mother and father must be thinking right now, and Sam. . . She'd be willing to bet that Sam is right in the middle of all this. In fact, the first thing Sam probably did after leaving her office this morning was call their mother and tell her what a selfish brat Caroline was being. Because she's a few months older than Caroline, Sam has always thought she was so much wiser and plays the "big sister" card every chance she gets. Well, this is one time Sam has gone too far. She's stepped over the line and, as a result, she has hurt Caroline deeply; so deeply that Caroline may never be able to forgive her sister or her husband. How could they both betray her like this?)