CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Title: "Salvation: Forever and Always: Elusive Dreams – PART III"
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: November 18, 2012
(After Sam has gotten a few hours of much needed sleep, she gets up in time to spend some time with her daughter, eat something and take a shower and get dressed to head back to the base. She is extremely upset that she slapped Steve and remorse is eating her up; especially since Steve asked if he could hold her immediately after she did it. She makes sure that she wastes no time in getting ready and finds Steve down on the floor in their living room playing with Emily when she comes down the stairs. The sight of her big, bad Navy SEAL husband crawling around on the floor with their baby girl crawling all over her Daddy and the sound of Emily's laughter mixed with that of Steve's causes Sam's heart to swell with love and she is filled with shame at her earlier actions. Steve sees her from the corner of his eye and picks Emily up so they can meet Mommy at the door and tell her bye. Seeing the love in Steve's eyes when he moves to stand directly in front of her brings tears to Sam's emerald green eyes.)
"Steve, I . . I'm so sorry I slapped you earlier; there's no excuse for that. Forgive me?"
"There's nothing to forgive, Sam. I said some pretty awful things to you and didn't stop to think that you'd been up all night dealing with some awful things. I'm the one who should be asking for your forgiveness. I'm sorry."
"I love you more than my next breath, Steve. You and Emily are my life; I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't know how long I'm going to be tied up at the base, but, when I get home, we need to sit down and talk."
"Sounds like a plan, Beautiful."
" 'Kay. I'll call you when I have a better idea of how long I'm going to be at the base. . . Steve?"
"Yeah, Sam?"
"Are we. . Are we okay?"
"We're good. I love you very much, Sam."
(Steve and Emily walk outside and watch as Sam gets into her Porsche and wave at her until she turns out of the driveway. Kissing his daughter's silky, dark curls, Steve carries her back inside and they settle down on the sofa to channel surf finally settling on an animated movie that captures Emily's attention. Steve's mind is not on the movie but his wife and what's going on with her. Thirty minutes later, he grabs his cellular phone and punches a speed dial.)
"Please don't tell me you're calling because we have a case."
"Well, no, Kono, but would that be a problem?"
"Of course not, and you know it, but Tony and Eric and I are having such a wonderful day and I really don't want to have to interrupt it to go chase bad guys. What's up?"
"An F-16 crashed at the base last night and Sam was at the base until early-thirty this morning and had to go back a little while ago. Not sure what time she's going to be home but I thought I'd surprise her and take her out to dinner. I know it's kind of last minute, but . . Know what? Never mind. Don't want to intrude."
"You're not intruding and, yes, we'd love to have Emily spend the night with us."
"Really? 'Cause, you know, we could take Emily with us."
"Steve, bring Emily over here and take your wife out to dinner. Eric will be thrilled to have his BFF spend the night."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. After everything that's gone on for the past couple of months, and especially the last couple of days, you and Sam deserve a night out; just the two of you."
"Thanks, Kono, I really appreciate it. Listen, I'm not sure what time we'll be dropping Emily off, but I'll call you as soon as I hear from Sam."
(Emily has fallen asleep on her Daddy's chest while watching the movie and Steve carries her upstairs and puts down in her bed and then proceeds to pack an overnight bag for her. Once he's finished that, he heads downstairs to check and see if they have a few essentials for the op he has planned and, finding that they do, heads back upstairs and heads into the master bathroom to take care of a few things in there. He has just finished and is surveying his work with satisfaction when his cellular phone rings.)
"Hey, Beautiful, how's it going?"
"It's getting there. Adm. Henderson and I just got back from the base hospital and it looks like all our personnel are going to be just fine. The two officers from San Diego as part of the joint investigation into the crash arrived right on time and we've gotten quite a bit accomplished. If all goes well, we should be able to start repairs on the damaged runway in a few days. Looks like I'm going to be home around 1900 hours. What's Baby Girl up to?"
"Taking a nap. Think you'll be up for going out to dinner when you get home?"
"Going out to dinner sounds heavenly. Where are you and Emily thinking about going?"
"Emily's spending the night at Kono's and Tony's, Sam. It's just going to be you and me and we can go anywhere you want."
"Really? Just the two of us?"
"Just the two of us, Beautiful. Where would you like to go?"
"Surprise me, Steve. We haven't been out, just the two of us, in forever. . I love you."
"Surprise, it is, and I love you, too, Sam; always and forever."