Chapter 74 "Unexpected"
A/N: (7 February 2018) Omigosh, I thank you all for the beautiful reviews for 73 and your patience. This chapter really should have been finished sooner, but it literally made me wait, and that means you had to wait too, so I hope you forgive us both, and enjoy what this chapter holds. It starts off not so, well, the first part is fine, but then comes the bump, and then comes something I knew was coming. And it isn't the, uh, unexpected part, it's the part after, between Danny and Becca.
Thank you for sticking with this story, and being so patient. I really love you all 😊
CBS owns Hawaii Five-0, but we play with it as long as we don't make any money from it.
Chapter 74 "Unexpected"
(Wednesday, 1 March 2017, 6:45 a.m.)
Danny Williams plucked his dripping white four-month old kitten out of the shower in the bath of the master bedroom, because she liked to sit on the tiles in the corner and slap at the water when he showered. She also slapped puddles, some of them muddy. Danny had taken to leaving out a shallow pan of water by the backyard's exit doors of his new house, with a wide towel folded to one side, which of course Angel used to clean and more-or-less dry her paws when she came in from slapping puddles after it rained. She was not fond of licking wet dirt off of her furry personage, even if she was a very fastidious kitten when it came to keeping her whites white. Clarence, her betrothed kitten, who Becca Cornett brought over often, had high standards, too. Even though both felines were young, they knew when they grew up that they would be forever soulmates.
Danny reflected that he was glad Angel was not a venturesome kitten. She avoided Outside except for careful excursions into the back yard. Even then, she eschewed the beach. You could almost hear her spit out the loathsome word, "Sand." But she loved the brief time when the track through the shrubbery down to the beach became muddy from rain. And there was one low spot near the porch that collected water from the roof gutter. She had discovered it the hard way one day when she was chasing a gecko (with no intention of actually catching it) which had dived into the plantings by the porch. Angel, ever the spirited non-hunter, had leapt for all her growing-but-still-diminutive size could muster over the plants and landed with a shocked splash in the three inches of water in the little pool, had levitated straight up and then sideways* to land in the dianthus next to it, and stared balefully at it for quite some time before first giving it what-for with a few assertive and disciplinary paw wallops before deciding it was cowed enough to dive into it because she was a cat and therefore did unexplainable things, and things which defied every law of physics. Danny called the puddle 'Angel's Play Pool', and her defiance of physics 'Angel's Magic'.
"Is your middle name Steve?" Danny asked Angel, who was waiting for him to wrap her in the special pink towel used for drying her off. Angel thwapped his chin with one paw, claws in, and flattened her ears for a few seconds, which made Danny give a short laugh and wide 'see my teeth' smile. "Guess not. I asked because he loves the water. Cats, so everyone tells me, do not like the water, except for some breeds which you are clearly not. Therefore, you are an anomaly. Which we already know." He wrapped her in her very own petal pink towel, the same color as the ones by the backyard doors.
His phone rang. It was by his sink (since there were two, the other waiting for Becca once they began sharing the home). There was a small digital clock on the shelf under the mirror, and Danny glanced at it as he put Angel down in her pile of pink towel. He pulled his own vanilla white towel around his waist, frowning because a call this early was almost certainly something to do with a new case, which, at this early hour also usually meant someone had died in some unnatural, suspicious way.
But this wasn't about work, as he frowned with a frisson of worry running with cold feet up his spine when he noticed the caller's name. It was his lawyer.
"Richard? You are sure early, what's up?"
Richard Irwin had been his lawyer ever since Danny had come to Hawaii. They got on well, but were not close friends, although they mutually thought well of each other.
Danny had reached for another towel, to pat dry his hair, when his hands froze at Richard's reply. His hair was forgotten and that towel slipped onto the foot-rug, forming a vanilla pile right next to Angel's petal pink one.
"C—would you repeat that?"
For a few minutes, Danny listened as if frozen into a statue. He finally asked, his voice gruff, "The baby?" More listening, and then he leaned against the vanity, feeling shaky. "Thanks. No, I'm … okay. Shocked. Um. Call me whenever, uh, with whatever … whenever you get more details. I should probably be there at the ... you know. Thanks." As a complete afterthought, he said, "Bye," and ended the call.
Danny set the phone down as if it were a feather, then stared down at it, and at his hands. His hands were shaking. He had to think about this. The lawyer's news had left him reeling, his emotions completely unprepared for what he had been told.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Danny knew his daughter was having her shower, then would get Charlie ready for school. He called Steve, after making sure his bedroom door was both closed and locked. Angel was following him around, stilling when he did, and making the exact patterns on the tiles or carpet his bare feet were when he couldn't stand still and had to pace.
Steve finally answered, his voice surprised, happy, and a little annoyed. "Danny! I'm dripping wet, you got us I mean me out of the shower. This better be good."
Danny winced and hesitated. His voice came out strained. "It … isn't."
Steve's voice was instantly concerned, focused, and worried. "Are you okay? Is it the kids? What do you need me to do? What's wrong?"
Danny had stopped pacing, again, and was suddenly sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed, Angel in his lap.
"Danny? Hey, answer me! Are you okay?"
Danny cleared his closed throat, tears beginning to form slow, ignored rivulets down his cheeks. He closed his eyes, and images filled his head. Good times, great times, bad times, terrible times, beautiful times, ugly times, things he never wanted to forget, never could forget, and desperately wanted to forget.
"Danny, I'm coming over!"
Danny's voice was shaky and small. "Steve?"
Steve's voice was sharp, worried. "Yeah!"
"Could you … hurry? Take the kids to school? Uh. Tell them I'm sick? I'm not sick sick, but I feel … I do feel sick. My lawyer called. R-Rachel's-" His voice cracked. "Sh-she's dead. Steve, she's dead." He tossed the phone aside and scrambled for the toilet, Angel streaking after him. He didn't hear Steve's shocked, "OhMyGod. Ten minutes. I'll be right there."
H50 H50 H50 H50
Hannah had been with Steve and dried him off while he talked with Danny, then pulled out fresh clothes for him and helped him dress in record time. She sent Steve on his way and got herself ready while she called Becca. "Danny called Steve. He-"
"Danny just called me. He said Rachel died. He sounded awful and said he needed me. I'm pulling on scrubs." Becca sounded horrified, worried sick, and tearful while hurrying.
"Good. I'm on my way over too. Did he say what happened?"
"No," answered Becca. "We didn't talk long." She didn't say that all he had said was, "Rachel died. I need you," in his broken voice. For now, he didn't need to say another thing. She stuffed her feet into light blue Keds and grabbed her keys, and headed for the door, the phone to her ear as her other hand slung her small purse across her body.
"But she's in Kentucky at the women's prison there! What on earth happened?"
"I don't know."
"What about the baby?"
"I don't know."
"Okay. I'll see you at Danny's. I have a feeling we shouldn't say anything to the kids yet."
"Agreed. Hannah, I'm scared." Becca didn't pause in her dash to the kitchen to put food down for Clarence, who was a pale gold-eyed gray sphinx by the refrigerator. "You didn't come home last night."
Hannah knew what the real question was. "I stayed at Steve's, but we didn't, you know. D-do you believe me? And I'm scared, too. Danny's been through so much."
Becca only hesitated to answer because she was trying to get the apartment door to lock. Then she was running for the elevators down to the parking garage. "I believe you. And he's been through way too much. Okay, you help Steve with the kids, I'm going straight upstairs. See you at Danny's. Love you, Sis."
"Love you."
H50 H50 H50 H50
Danny spent a brief interval hunched over the toilet, but that didn't last long since he had nothing substantive to give it. By the time he heard Steve arrive (because he heard the swerve and skid of tires in his driveway, and Steve was the only one who used those to announce his presence), he was sitting on the edge of a lounge chair on the master bedroom lanai, having rinsed his mouth and pulled on black jeans and a black T-shirt. He had out of habit reached for a white shirt, then switched his choice. He didn't have a black button-shirt, so he would get one as soon as he could. And shoes. Rachel deserved to be mourned.
Hannah came next. Steve was already at his door and had stopped in the lanai's doorway. He had unlocked the bedroom, expecting adult visitors. "Danny, I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry. Just … just tell me what to do to help." Steve's words were simple, but his eyes were soulfully eloquent.
Danny nodded. "Thanks for coming over." He was petting Angel, still slightly damp. "Uh. She went into early labor with complications, and the prison was taking her to the hospital nearest, but they hit a patch of ice and spun out. She hit her head real b-bad, stopped breathing and went into cardiac a-a-arrest." Danny bit off speaking while he regained control of himself. "They had to do a C-section right there, and the baby—it's a boy-is fine, almost two months early but fine, probably spend a week or so in NICU. Jason Black's brother and sister-in-law are flying in, they have sole custody of the baby. And Rachel … didn't make it. They tried everything. They said she sh—shou-should have made it. It was like she gave up. May-maybe she did." That was all Danny could say, burying his head in Angel's fur.
Steve, with Hannah in time to hear the last bit, both swallowed in unison. Steve came in and knelt down by Danny and put his arms around him. "I'm so sorry, Danny."
Danny nodded fiercely, gave Steve's most available arm a kiss and cleared his throat. "Makes two of us. So. I can't tell the kids yet, can't … you know? I gotta get myself together, find out how to do this right. So, uh. Can you get them through breakfast, like, you know, I'm just a bit sick, nothing to worry about? And get them to school?"
"Sure. Yeah. Of course. You got it."
"Thanks, both of you."
Hannah said in a voice full of understanding and love, "Becca is on her way."
Danny buried his head again, and nodded. "I need her."
Steve kissed the top of Danny's touseled head. He understood. "We'll send her up. Can we get you anything? Tea? Milk? Crackers? Cereal?"
Danny managed to say, "Two bowls cereal? Uh. Half Fruit Loops and half Cheerios, with milk, and tea, and ask Becca if that works for her too. I'm not hungry, I really wonder if I'll ever be hungry again, please don't tell Grace or Charlie. Not yet. I gotta find out how to do this right. Their mom - how do I tell them?"
Becca burst into the room, and gave everyone a hug before zeroing in on Danny. "We'll figure it out," said Steve, Becca, and Hannah together while Angel purred sadly.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Hannah ended up taking Grace and Charlie to school while Steve ran a different errand. Becca had relayed to them that Danny didn't have proper mourning clothes, or shoes, and Steve organized the ultimate expedition to fill this lack, plus grab a few things for the rest of them, since they should all probably wear black something until this got sorted out. He called Danny's clothier, who got to work immediately getting everything Danny would need together. While Steve waited for alterations to be made, he got things for Charlie, for Grace, for Hannah and Becca, and for himself. It was the first time in his life he was glad for something called a Shopping Mall.
Becca called in sick, called her father, stayed with Danny, and they talked.
"She wasn't transitioning well," Danny said quietly. "Not that I thought she would. Her losses lately have been worse than mine. I have everything to live for, and she isn't, wasn't the type to see her current situation as a means of turning her … am I insensitive to use the word 'selfishness'? around." He squeezed Becca's hands as they sat together in the just-big-enough lounge chair to hold them and Angel. "Because she was selfish. She was selfish. She was also a lot of good things, but if she had one central fault, it was selfishness. And I knew it when I married her, but I was blind to how deep in her the trait ran."
Becca snuggled, in her plain blue scrub pants and subdued lighter blue scrub top, next to Danny. The arm of the chair was digging into her back, but she would have died before she admitted it. "But there are good memories, too."
Danny nodded once. "Yes. Yes, there are. And hopefully soon I will remember them more than what I am remembering. Because now she has left my kids motherless."
Becca was quiet for awhile before she sat up, and then straddled Danny. "No, she didn't, Danny. She didn't leave them motherless. I will be their mother now." She held up her left hand, with the ring sparkling on her ring finger. "I agreed to marry you, your kids, and your kitten. I keep my word. I love you. I love them. I love Angel. I want to have babies with you, more children to love." She entwined her ringed hand with his and pulled it up against her heart. "Feel that? It beats with love, and that includes for Rachel. I know how much she hurt you. Believe me, I know. She divorced you. She took Grace, twice, and hid Charlie from you. But she brought you all to me. And now, if I am being selfish, so be it, she is giving me what I want: a chance to marry you as a free man, in church, so we can put our lives ahead of us instead of carrying the baggage she was going to force us to live with. She refused to cooperate with the annulment you were seeking, trying to stop us from marrying in the church. But now we can, and we have a clear path. Her children will be loved, are loved, and there will be no more bad memories made, no anvil on your ankle, anchoring you to a painful past. She finally did something unselfish, even if she didn't mean to. She freed you. So now WE can really be US. We can be a real family. I'm sorry Rachel is gone, but I'm glad that something good will come out of it."
Danny stared up at Becca, felt her heartbeat through his hand, and the silent echo of her words in his ears and mind. "God, how I love you. You are right. She has freed me. And my kids still have a mother, who will soon be with them day and night. But that discussion comes later, dear Becca." He kissed her, a chaste kiss with heat. "Not too much later, but I need to talk to the therapist on how best to approach telling Grace and Charlie. I think I can tell Grace, but Charlie is another matter."
Becca kissed Danny the same way he had kissed her. She understood. But she will full of a soul-deep love. "You know I'll help you. But there's something you need to know." She was breathing hard.
"What's that?"
Becca's eyes were flashing with love. "I'm selfish, too. I love you. And if you asked me to release you, I would, though it would break me. Because living without you would be too unsatisfying, now that I have had a taste of your love, helped you through trials. Shared joy with you."
"We are soulmates."
Becca nodded, almost fiercely. And began to sing.**
"I'm trying to hold my breath.
Let it stay this way. Can't let this moment end.
You set off a dream in me.
Getting louder now.
Can you hear it, echoing?
Take my hand.
Will you share this with me?
'Cause, darling, without you…
All the shine of a thousand spotlights,
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough
Never be enough.
Towers of gold are still too little.
These hands could hold the world and it will
Never be enough,
Never be enough
For me.
Never, never,
Never, never.
Never enough
For me.
For me…..
All the shine of a thousand spotlights,
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough,
Never be enough.
Towers of gold are still too little.
These hands could hold the world and it'll
Never be enough,
Never be enough…..!
For me.
Never, never!
Never, never!
Never, never!
For me,
For me,
For me…!
For me."
When Becca's voice died down on the last two words, silence reverberated. Danny finally broke it. "You are so passionate. You can sing."
"I am passionate. And I was inspired."
"A capella. Loud! Beautifully! Passionately!"
Becca smiled, but stayed serious. Fiercely loving. "So, you see, I am selfish, too."
Danny swallowed. Twice. "But not in the same way as …."
"No."
"And I think you just proposed to me."
"I think I did!" She was still breathing hard, her eyes still flashing their love.
"Then my answer is, 'Yup!'"
Becca and Danny met in a kiss that sent Angel up to the top of the chaise, a kiss that was just managing to be chaste but had a lot to do with butterflies, too. "I love you," whispered Danny when they parted, the loudest whisper to reverberate on soulmates' eardrums. "I can live without you, Becca, but not with any happiness. Only you can fill this place in my heart, no one else, ever. And the place that Rachel once filled is a memory, and has been for a long time, even if I didn't realize it until I realized what I realized in the box. And even there, I thought of you so much. Only you, Becca, can fill my heart."
"I wish we could … right here, right now. I want you, Danny. But we can't. Yet."
"No. Not yet. But I want to."
"Rachel is barely …"
"Yes," agreed Danny firmly, his hands on Becca's hips, trying to get them to move back to her waist, while her hands were in his hair, and he didn't care that it was now tousled into a mess.
"If this had changed your mind about me … I don't know what I would have done."
"If you had changed your mind about me," husked out Danny, "I don't know what I would have done."
"Omigod!" said Steve, from the doorway, arms laden with bags and boxes of every size and description. He had been there for quite a while. "Get. A. Room!"
.
.
H50 H50
A/N: *I have seen cats do this sideways airborne defiance of gravity. As a, uhm, kid, I tried (keep that word in mind, because it hints at failure) to drop my cat in the little kiddie wading pool. I held him at arms' length outward, and dropped him straight down, and he landed next to the pool about 4 feet away, and gave me an unloving look which literally translated would mean, "Die, you human scum. Do that again, and your legs are gonna be scratching posts." I never did it again. When I learned not to do things like that, he and I were besties for another 10 years, and I miss him to this day. And I've had cats ever since, and every one of them defied gravity.
A/N** Never Enough, from The Greatest Showman (Look up on youtube, Never Enough, Official Lyric Video). I heard it and knew it was for Becca and Danny. And I am addicted to it.