CHAPTER FOURTEEN

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

(Caroline's cellular phone rings just as she is finishing up her report on the training exercise and she automatically answers it without looking at the caller I.D.)

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Hello, Grace. What are you up to this afternoon?"

"Just calling to make sure you were going to pick me up on your way home from the base. You and Danno promised to take me out to dinner tonight, remember?"

"Oh, Sweetie, I'd forgotten! Tell you what, I'm just about finished for the day so I'll pick you up in about twenty minutes, okay?"

" 'Kay. Love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, Grace."

(As soon as she ends the call, Caroline is overcome by a sense of shame because of the things she said to Sam about Grace that morning. She realizes that she was, in a sense, taking her anger at Danny out on Grace and, in that, she was wrong. She also realizes that, even though she is still incredibly upset with her husband, they are going to have to do their best to act as normally as possible while Grace is with them. With no more time to dwell on the situation, Caroline calls Danny to give him a heads up. . . .

Grace Williams may be a little girl but she's not stupid. The more she watches Mom and Danno as they sit in the restaurant waiting on their order, the more convinced she is that something's wrong. The two adults are being so polite to one another that it's getting a little, well, sickening. They're both smiling a lot but their smiles don't quite make it to their eyes. There are a lot of uncomfortable silences. Yep, Mom and Danno are having a fight and they don't want Grace to know. Too late!)

"Danno?"

"Yes, Monkey?"

"Why are you and Mom fighting?"

"Um, what makes you think we're fighting?"

" 'Cause you're acting just like Mommy and Stan do when they're fighting."

"Do Stan and Mommy fight a lot, Grace?"

"Don't change the subject, Danno. What are you and Mom fighting about?"

"Your father and I aren't really fighting, Sweetie; we're just having a little difference of opinion."

"Nope. You're fighting."

(In spite of the fact that they truly are fighting, Danny and Caroline put their anger aside for the moment and look helplessly at one another. Neither of them wants to upset Grace, but it's obvious that their efforts at trying to hide things from her are all for nothing.)

"Okay, Monkey, you're right. Mom and I are having a disagreement about something, but we'll work it out."

"What are you disagreeing about?"

"Oh, you know, just grown up stuff."

"What kind of grown up stuff?"

"The kind that little girls wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

(Steve wanders into their bedroom to find Sam standing at the window gazing out into the darkness with a worried frown on her beautiful face. She was upset when she got to her parents' house this afternoon, and, now, hours later, she's even more upset. Sam looks so miserable standing there that it sends another spurt of anger at Caroline through Steve. Walking up behind his wife, he puts his arms around her slender waist and pulls her back against the solid wall of his muscled chest.)

"As hard as it may be to believe right now, Sweetheart, we're all going to get through this rough spot."

"I know, but how many people are going to be hurt and how deeply in the process? First Caroline and Danny were fighting, then Caroline and me, and now Mom and Dad are, too. How far is this going to go, Steve?"

"I don't know, Beautiful, but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. You won't go through this alone."

"What hurts me more than anything, Steve, is the fact that my sister is in such incredible pain and I can't do anything about it. Caroline and I have always been able to communicate so well with one another; we've always understood one another, but, this time, I just cannot get a handle on how to help her. I thought that, if I took a hard line approach with her today, it would snap her out of the fog she's been in for a while now, but it didn't work. . . You should have seen her this morning when she was telling me about the incredibly romantic evening Danny planned for them last night and how much she enjoyed it. I swear, Steve, she was gushing like a teenager and she was genuinely happy. Yet, this afternoon, she had gone back to her 'dark place' again. It's almost like she's two different people."

"Danny said something about wanting the woman he married back earlier today. What have we missed here, Sam?"

"What do you mean?"

"Caroline didn't just jump off the deep end overnight. When did her personality first start noticeably changing?"

"Where are you going with this, Steve?"

"I'm not really sure, Sam, but I think we need a new approach to this whole problem; treat it like an investigation."

"An investigation?"

"Yeah, you know, set up a time line, ask questions, look for evidence."

"Evidence? What kind of evidence?"

"I'm not really sure, Beautiful, but there's got to be something we're overlooking."

"You know, you just may be onto something here, Sailor."

"Maybe and maybe not, but it can't hurt to give it a try."

"Absolutely."

(Grace has been looking from Caroline to Danny and back again with her arms crossed in front of her and an expression on her little face that is remarkably like one of her Uncle Steve's, as she waits for one or both of them to tell her why they're fighting. Both of the adults have a "deer-in-the-headlights" expression, but the also realize that they're going to have to tell Grace something. Glancing briefly at Danny, Caroline tries to explain and what she says definitely gets Danny's attention.)

"Did you know that grown ups can be very selfish and inconsiderate people sometimes and throw temper tantrums like little kids, Grace? Because they can, and, for the past few months, I've been doing exactly that."

"You have?"

"I have. I'm afraid that I've been behaving very badly with Danno, and Aunt Sam, and, . . Your Daddy can be a very patient man when he wants to be, and he's been very patient and understanding with me, but he finally reached a point where he didn't want to put up with my bad attitude anymore and I don't blame him. Of course, I was so intent on getting my way that I didn't stop to think about how I was hurting your father, so now, . . ."

"So now you and Danno have to kiss and make up."