Chapter 26 "Dreams & Realities"

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A/N: (date) I have not given up on this story, nor lost my muse! Fate and her lead pipe did swing again. The day after I posted Ch. 25, my sister's formerly well-behaved gall bladder suddenly went south (yup, another ER visit), and she had it removed (laparoscopically) on 1 November. My sis was ready but my nerves weren't. Go to talk to the surgeon, surgeon doesn't like the way things are, says, "We need to get that thing out. We have an opening in the OR this afternoon. Can you come back in 2 hours?" Uh, sure! See you then! I begin quietly panicking because I would be my sis's caretaker, and I couldn't even think of writing until she started to feel better, and there were more adventures, like the car battery picked the hospital parking lot to die in AFTER the surgery, requiring a return home by cab, really late because it turns out my sis has a problem with anesthesia and turned a 6-hour thing into a 10 hour one, and then she got an unrelated infection, and sigh. So, things are okay now, she's much better, and I can write again. Car has new battery; sis has one less organ and 4 jeepers scars. My nerves are settling.

Thank you for being so patient, and for reviewing 25 and being so kind! Now if Fate will stop swinging that da(r)n pipe, maybe I can get some momentum going again! I'd like to finish this story before it actually IS the time of year when the story actually ends!

CBS owns all things Hawaii Five-0.

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Chapter 26 "Dreams & Realities"

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(Wednesday, 23 December 2016, almost 6pm, Sunset)

It was Christmas noon, a glorious day. The weather was anything but snowy or cold, as it would have been in New Jersey, but Danny was actually getting used to not having to spend part of his Christmas or Christmas Eve shoveling the newest depth of crystalline white snow from his driveway. Snow in Honolulu simply did not happen, so there was more time to spend with his children, and that beat out snow anytime.

Danny was on the phone with his ex, Rachel, who was complaining that Stan really wanted the kids to be there for the special luncheon he had catered for their friends and business colleagues who would pack the house. Patiently, because Danny could hold his temper easier on Christmas than most other days, he asserted his court-given rights, hard fought for and won. "No, Rachel, I will be there in less than 20 minutes to bring the kids over here, to my house, to spend time with me and my friends. You got them last night, as my gift to you, when I should have had them, so I get them all day today and all night too, because we agreed on that. I will see you soon. Bye."

He was excited. Lunch was prepared, warming in the oven, or cooling in the fridge, and the cakes and pies were prepared and baked, and the respectable (and legal) real Christmas tree was already strung with colorful lights, just waiting for decorations, while nearby packages were hiding in his closet, not exactly stacked high, because money had run tight this year, but were special enough to make up for lack in number. Still, Danny felt a pang of sadness that he had not been able to get his kids more. There was the remote-controlled BB-8, which was for Grace, and he had managed to find a Honolulu police cruiser for Charlie, with siren and lights. (He had made one alteration to the cruiser: the siren had loudness settings for low, medium, and high, and he thought high would drive him insane, so he disabled that setting.) He also had extra batteries for both the BB-8 and the cruiser, plus some smaller gifts for his beloved Grace and Charlie.

He had bought Grace the beautiful red jersey with gold sequins Christmas maxi dress he had caught her admiring at the mall, and some police uniform and fireman pajamas for Charlie, with a uniformed plush bear to go with each. Now he could be a fireman one night, and a policeman the next! He had gotten everything on a half price special sale, and had taken Kono's advice on which accessories to get for Grace's dress. He loved watching her face light up when he pulled out that last little gift for her, the one she never expected, the one that was jewelry from her father. This time it was a necklace of real pearls, with a center heart pendant of pearls and a real diamond in the middle, with matching earrings. The diamonds were small and not the highest quality, but they flashed and sparkled, they were real, and they were given with love. To pay for all of it, even on sale, Danny would have to discreetly give up Malasadas and anything but home brewed coffee or tea, and bag his lunch until at least July, but anything was worth it to see the look on his children's faces when they opened their carefully wrapped gifts.

His thoughts were interrupted by the shock of realizing he had not gotten anything for Angel! She needed that bed with the fluffy pink cat-paws print, and a scratching post with a hammock half way up and a platform for birdwatching at the window, and a toy mouse with feathers for a tail and a jingle bell inside, and that braided yarn string on a stick, and the laser dot pointer, so she could chase that red dot all over the room! How had he forgotten those?

Angel was pawing at his nose, and he slowly pried his eyes open, and immediately the dream of happiness and contentment was replaced by colorful Christmas lights illuminating the box. "Oh," he muttered, aware sharply of how tired and cold he felt, aching in every part of his body - except his burned thumb was not nearly as angry. It apparently liked freezing. Danny estimated that the air around him was possibly only 60 degrees, which for Hawaii was arctic. He sat up and reached for his coverall, pulling it on awkwardly because he wanted to keep the blanket around him as much as he could. He wished he had socks, maybe even a jacket. From the feel of the cold, he half expected to see the mist of his breathe in the multi-colored air inside the box.

He watched Angel yawn, and naturally yawned in response. She purred and climbed up on him so she could rub her whole cheek on his beard stubble. "Let me give you a good petting, my little Angel. Thank you for waking me up." He remembered the dream. She would definitely get a perfect cat bed and scratching post / cat tree, and toys.

After petting Angel, and being thanked, she curled in his lap while he checked his knee. It was healing, showing no signs of infection. His nerves flared briefly as he took the bandage off his thumb. It did feel much better, now that the burning sensation was reduced almost to nothing. It was still quite painful, still looked like it was on the verge of infection, and from his aches Danny could not tell if he had a fever or not, until he realized he was hotter than Angel, and seemed to have even less energy.

He would allow an extra bottle of water for himself today. He estimated he was halfway through the link, so today he had a lot of sawing to do. He drank some water, checked Angel's water bowl, and got busy. The only concession was that he kept the blanket wrapped around him. Otherwise, it was Escape Plan A, Day 3.

(A/N: sorry this is so short, but I have to let you know I'm not giving up!)