CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
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: March 4, 2013
(Libby is smiling as she watches Mike sitting on one of the sofas in their den telling Emily an outrageous story about her Mommy and her Aunt Caroline. Her granddaughter is completely enthralled by what Mike is saying although she probably doesn't understand most of what is coming out of her "Ganpa's" mouth. Laughing out loud at one of Mike's more creative facial expressions, Libby doesn't even glance at the caller I.D. as her cellular phone rings and she grabs it off the kitchen counter.)
"Hello?"
"Libby, I've screwed up royally and I need your help!"
"Steve? What on Earth is the matter, Son?"
"I decided to take a hard-line approach with Sam to get her to tell me what was going on, and I overdid things. She . . She left me, Libby! She packed a suitcase, got in her car, and left me! I'm pretty sure she's on her way to your house, but, God, I have so totally screwed up! Help me, Libby, please!"
"Calm down, Son, I can barely understand what you're saying! Did you say Sam left you?"
"I pushed her too hard, too far. I couldn't leave well enough alone and wait for Capt. Stewart to talk to her tomorrow, and she left me! Sam left me!"
"Oh, my God, Steve! Son, what got into you?"
"I thought that, if I played hardball with her I could get some answers. I've made a terrible mistake, Libby, and I need to fix it and fix it now! Please, God, you've got to help me!"
(By now, Mike has determined that something is terribly wrong and, carrying Emily, he walks over to his wife with a concerned expression on his face. Libby has turned somewhat pale but is determined that Steve's near hysteria is not going to rub off on her and she knows she needs to keep her wits about her if she's going to be of any use to him at all.)
"Listen to me, Steve. I need you to take some slow, deep breaths and try to calm down. If I'm going to be of any help to you at all, I need to understand exactly what happened between you and Sam. Do you understand?"
(Sam has driven several blocks from the house before she begins to cry so hard that she can no longer see well enough to drive. Pulling over to the shoulder of the road, Sam drapes both arms on the steering wheel and rests her head on her arms as sobs wrack her body. Never in her entire life, not even when her parents died, has she felt such intense pain. Never has she felt so completely alone nor so completely lost. Never, in a million years, would she have ever, ever thought that she would find herself in this position. The stark realization of what she has done hits her full-force and, along with that awareness is the understanding that, once again, her actions have resulted in tragedy. Once again, she has lost someone she loves and there is no one to blame but herself. Steve hit the nail on the head; he has been living in Hell lately and it's all her fault, but she hasn't yet hurt Emily and she's not going to, either. Several minutes later, Sam has pulled herself together enough to drive and eases back onto the highway heading to a destination other than the one she had intended to go to when she left the house.
Libby has managed to calm Steve down somewhat and puts her phone on speaker before again asking him to tell her exactly what happened between him and Sam. She and Mike listen in horror as he describes everything that took place from the time Sam got home until she left, and they exchange several pained glances as they listen to the raw anguish in Steve's voice. He is crying unashamedly by the time he finishes and is literally begging them to tell him how to fix his screw up. Unfortunately, neither Libby nor Mike has the slightest idea of what to say to Steve at the moment. Promising him that they will call him just as soon as Sam gets to their house so he will know she got there okay, Libby tells Steve the first thing he should do is try to calm down and get himself under control because he's definitely in no shape to try and talk with Sam at the moment. After the call ends, Libby looks helplessly at her husband but he can offer her no words of wisdom. They are both, quite frankly, stunned speechless by what Steve has told them and need some time to absorb everything. Taking Emily from Mike, Libby holds her granddaughter close and sends up a silent prayer that Emily's Mommy and Daddy will get their heads out of their sixes and stop acting like idiots before they pass the point of no return. Asking Mike to let her know as soon as Sam arrives, Libby heads upstairs to give Emily a bath.
After talking with his in-laws, Steve does his best to follow Libby's instructions and calm down. Thinking back over their conversation, Steve understands just how big a bastard he was to Sam and knows exactly why she packed a bag and left him. He realizes that what he did may make it impossible for Sam to ever forgive him and that scares him. Badly.)