Chapter 54 "The Duel"
A/N: (29 April 2017) Oh my, I enjoyed the reviews you gave me! That chapter was a conglomerate of little episodes. There was no good place to split it, and it covered a lot of ground, so was a bit difficult to figure out what to comment on! You all were wonderful!
This one finally gets to what you want to read. Hopefully, it is satisfying.
CBS owns Hawaii Five-0.
Chapter 54 "The Duel"
(Thursday, 29 December 2016, 11 a.m.)
So many times in Danny's life, he had talked with Rachel. Not so many times in the past year or so, but it was definitely something he was very familiar with. Sometimes she looked at him as if she was actually seeing someone else, or wished she was, such as when they had problems in their marriage because Danny would not give up being a police detective to please her. It was his job, and his passion, and gave his life purpose, in an entirely different way than being a father to young Grace and husband to Rachel. He remembered that look well, and as important as it was for him to be a good husband and father, and as willing as he was to try to please his wife, she never gave him a reason to quit his job that made him feel anything like a good husband. He had known then, and he knew now, that she had made him feel like a failure in every department as a human being because he did not, in effect, say "How high?" when she said, "Jump."
He thought back on the moment he knew she was shopping, literally, for his replacement. She had divorce on her mind. She was in a particularly loving time towards him, which made the intuition that she was not just thinking of divorce, but planning her exit, all the more of a betrayal. She had gone shopping on a Saturday, and all the boxes she came home with contained clothes Danny could not afford. Not that she wore cheap clothes as it was, because Rachel was after all Rachel, but she stepped it up a notch and went for labels his budget could not take.
Normally, Danny didn't interfere with his wife's shopping. Normally, she didn't blow up his budget and almost max his credit cards. This time, this one particular time, when he had known, he had also felt compelled to talk to her about it, because he simply could not afford what she had bought.
It had turned into a huge, heated argument, with Rachel throwing boxes of shoes, blouses, and dresses, sexy lingerie and accessories at him, accusing him of wanting her to look like a sack of potatoes, complaining if she bought hair conditioner, before she had stormed out and not come back for two days and three nights. It had been left to Danny to re-box everything, and try to be patient and kind to the salesperson he returned them too, while holding Grace's hand as she stood by his side, peering up at all the pretty clothes in the children's section just beyond the return desk.
The sales clerk had looked at him as if he were scum, a type. He knew Rachel had said something about him, and it had not been complimentary. And something in him snapped. Rachel had lied in some way about him, and he was going to prove she lied.
He had asked the clerk, a pretty woman with long, dark hair worn in soft waves, if she had waited on his wife when she bought the clothes he was returning. She had all but snarled, "Yes." Just the one word. Danny, smiling all the way to his eyes, had asked which dress, shoes, and lingerie set she had liked the most. The clerk pointed out the most expensive ones, and Danny had all but purred, "Wrap these up in new boxes, please. Red boxes, with black velvet ribbons. Hold them here while I take my daughter shopping." The startled clerk had complied, finally treating him like someone who actually had a right to breathe air.
He had encouraged Grace to pick out her favorite dress. She had tried on several, all eager and wide-eyed, and when she had her rose-pink satin favorite, and shoes and a little purse to match, he had those wrapped too, and gave the sales lady a tip she smiled warmly at.
Rachel returned home 24 hours later, had looked surprised and "forgiving" when she saw the boxes on the bed Danny had refused to sleep on until she returned, and even then, all he really wanted was the couch. His wife had walked in with a fancy new hair style, manicure and pedicure, facial, and a box of new lilac scented soaps when she knew Danny did not care much for lilacs. All he saw was the damage she had done to his budget, which was her favorite kind of revenge. She had never worn the almost-too-tight black sheath dress for him. But she had worn it two weeks later, on the night out with "the girls", where she had met Stan Edwards.
Danny knew the memories should make him angry.
But he still felt nothing. Rachel was just someone he had known, or thought he had known. It no longer mattered. It made him feel peaceful to realize she didn't have the power anymore to hurt him.
But he knew she would try. He felt ready for the duel.
H50 H50 H50 H50
The moment came when Rachel finally blinked first. Danny watched her try to wind his emotions around her fingers. "How are you feeling, Danny? You look well. The hat is a bit surprising, but I understand. It will take your hair some time to grow back. You still look pale." Then came the 'let's talk about me' line. "I probably look pale, too."
Danny didn't bite. "The kids are both fine. I saw them last night."
It was a subtle reprimand that Rachel had not even asked about her daughter and son, but so delicately delivered that she was taken aback by the lack of any cruelty behind it.
"Oh … I'm happy they are well. I … did they have any messages for me?"
Danny realized something he had always known and yet never mentally verbalized until this moment: everything about them had always been about her. And now, the knowledge had no power to even make him furrow his brows. He cleared his throat before answering. "No. I don't think Charlie really understands things, but Grace may be a little angry with you."
It was so flatly said, Rachel had no emotional energy to work with. Danny watched as she tried to make this about her again. "I assume you are trying to ease her away from anger at her mother? It isn't healthy to be angry with your mother."
Danny just sat in his chair, and then got up and knocked on the door and, when the matron opened it, asked if she could bring him a cup of water. "For my throat." He explained briefly what had happened to him, not for Rachel's benefit, although he knew she could hear him. He simply needed the water. "Is Mrs. Edwards allowed to have a cup, too?" he asked out of mere politeness. He also gave the thumbs-neutral sign to Steve, who stayed out of sight but was asking a thousand questions with his eyes and expression, all beginning with, "How is it going?" Neutral apparently was satisfactory, so Steve held up his watch and tried to wiggle his ring finger. It was a strange pantomime, and the matron looked puzzled. Danny said, grinning widely, "He can explain later. Mrs. Edwards doesn't need to know."
"Oh!" She nodded in understanding, then went to get paper cups of water. She returned quickly.
Danny's grin lasted until he turned back toward Rachel, who was now mulling how this was going. Danny could almost see the cogs turning to work this back to her demands. But Danny stopped her, by refuting with his now firmly entrenched neutral voice, "I am not trying to stop Grace from being angry at you. She knows what you did, and the only way for her to cope right now is with anger. It is a reasonable reaction, but will not last forever. Or it might."
"I raised her better than to hold a grudge," spouted the now angry Rachel.
Danny was unmoved. "When Dana spilled punch on Grace's formal at whatever dinner that was for Stan's work, who demanded Grace not speak to Dana for three weeks? When Luana wore the same dress in a different color as Grace at the winter formal two years ago, who made her rescind her Christmas present to one of her closest friends? When Charlie was teased when he got his bangs lopped a bit unevenly because he moved in the barber's chair, and you said he could punch in the eye any kid who teased him, and-"
"Yes, all of that is true, Daniel." She sounded miffed with some confusion thrown in. "But I am her mother."
"Which reminds me," said Danny, with that same evenness he had said everything else in. "I think we need to get to the heart of why I am here. I know you have made some demands of me, and I have some of my own."
Rachel interrupted, ominously. "I take it you are refusing my demands?"
"Entirely," Danny answered. "You know you would need surgery to end this to testify against you, since there is no other honest thing for me to do. Neil Lane's widow, and Mo Morris' family, if he has any, and friends, which he does have, and even Jason Black require me to testify for them to receive justice. And then there are … my kids, who were almost deprived of their father. I am not testifying for my own sake, but others need justice done, including my children and an innocent little kitten. This is not to say I won't file papers against your estate, on behalf of Charlie and Grace. I'm sure all the others are going to sue your estate down to the bone, which is pretty much what you have set yourself up for."
"Our kids, and I didn't have anything to do with the cat."
"Kitten," countered Danny, firmly but without anger, but a hint of sadness that Rachel had such undetectable concern for anyone else's well being and her own culpability. "Now for my demands. I will have this all drawn up with my lawyer, who can have a long billable-hours lunch with yours to work this out. I want you to surrender all your parental rights, since I will be entirely raising Grace and Charlie now that you are going to be in prison for a long time. I will of course send your lawyer updates two or three times a year on how they are doing, school photos. Report cards. If they wish to write to you, they may, but you may not write to them except through my attorney, which is how I want any communication between us to come from now on."
"I am a widow of four days' time, and you want to take my children away from me. You really hate me, don't you?"
Danny paused and considered his answer very carefully. He was honest. "I don't hate you. I thought I might, and I think I have reason to hate you. But I feel nothing anymore for you."
"But we were married. We loved each other."
Danny shook his head. "It is true we were married, and have beautiful children who are good and loving. But I never knew you until now, Rachel. The woman I thought I knew would never have done the things you have. So I loved a … liar. A skillful liar. Now that I know who you are, I have to walk away and cut all ties. I am working on forgiving you, but I don't want you in my life anymore."
Rachel threw her cup of water at him, as furious as he was not. He moved out of the way, and sighed. "I knew that would happen, since you used to throw tea at me when we argued."
She sputtered, enraged to tears. "You can't leave me in here alone!"
Quietly, he said, "You did this to yourself, Rachel. There is nothing I can do but go on with my life, and hope you find some peace and go on with yours."
"I hate you! I will ruin you! I will go after your friends, your … new wife!"
This came as close to getting a rise out of Danny as she could get. He lowered his voice and his words were firm. "These conversations are recorded, and the charges against you will be amended to include these new threats. Stop before you get life. Besides, 'Forewarned is forearmed.'"
"I can't let you marry someone else! Who is she?" Rachel yelled. "Tell me!"
Danny answered quietly, "Someone that I know, and love."
Rachel went into full-blown hysteria, such that the matron entered, and immediately called for two assistants to help move Rachel to the infirmary. Someone suggested a psyche evaluation, which increased the hysteria. Rachel was pulled from the room, in ankle and wrist restraints, shouting rude things to the finally sad man who watched her disappear around a cross-corridor. Eventually even her threats faded.
Danny and Steve stood side by side, until the quiet was restored. "I have no idea who that woman is, Steve," said Danny, turning to his friend.
Steve shook his head in worry. "I should never have told her you were getting married."
Danny sat down in the wheelchair again, shaking his head. "You had no idea she was this bad, and frankly neither did I. I hope they can treat her. I know they will try."
"You sound shaken."
"I am now. It seemed that the less emotional I was, the more she lost it. But, I want to forget this, and get on with my life."
"So you still feel up to ring shopping?"
"We won't get another chance before New Year's Eve."
"True," replied Steve, who frankly was shaken more than he wanted to admit. "Danny, let's get something to eat, somewhere quiet, and let this settle a bit, and then go find two beautiful ladies some perfect rings."
"Sounds good. Did you call Pua?"
"I will when we get our phones back at the check-in desk."
Danny laughed. "Oh, right. This isn't our blue room! She really would've lost it in there."
A guard came to push Danny's wheelchair back to the check-in area. "You don't seem like the type of guy to set someone off that badly," said the pale (for a Hawaiian) guard.
Steve didn't miss a beat. "You haven't known him long enough."
Which sent Danny into his own version of laughing hysterics. The tension was broken.