"Forever and Always – For Eternity"

CHAPTER ONE

Title: "Forever and Always: For Eternity"

Author: Michelle Heath

Rating: MA for adult situations and language

Summary: Story #6 in the Salvation, Forever and Always Series. The honor of your presence is requested at the wedding of Lana Palea and Chin Ho Kelly.

Disclaimer: I so do not own Hawaii Five-0; unfortunately! All original characters are the sole property of the author!

Date Written: May 27, 2011

A/N: Here is story #6 in the "Salvation" series, and mini-story #2 in the "Forever and Always" sub-series. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and sending me private messages for my previous stories; I LOVE hearing from my readers, and your words mean the world to me! I hope you enjoy this story and look forward to hearing from all of you very soon! Michelle

(Det. Chin Ho Kelly, looking extremely glum, walks into the Hawaii Five-0 offices and spots his three co-workers standing in front of or leaning on the smart table. Lt. Cmdr. Steve McGarrett, head of the Five-0 task force, has a huge grin on his face as he leans against the edge of the table with his arms and ankles crossed and listens to something Kono is saying. Chin's cousin, Off. Kono Montgomery, is smiling and gesturing in an exaggerated manner as she is talking and her face is glowing; a result of being six months' pregnant with her first child. Det. Danny Williams is standing to Kono's right with his arms crossed over his chest, and he, too, is grinning. Sighing heavily, Chin schools his features into a more amicable expression and joins the group.)

"Hey, what's so funny?"

"I was just telling Steve and Danny about Tony trying to put the baby bed together last night. I laughed until I had tears running down my face! I mean, here's this big, bad Navy SEAL who can diffuse twenty-seven different kinds of bombs in less than thirty seconds and it took him four and-a-half hours to put together a baby bed!"

"Hey, those things can be tricky!"

"Danny, it's a baby bed. How hard can it be to put a baby bed together?"

"A lot harder than you think, Steven."

"Oh, God, I hope not! He's supposed to put the changing table together tonight. At the rate he's going, the baby will be graduating from college before the nursery's ready!"

(And everyone except Chin laughs again. Kono and Danny head off to her office with Danny telling her about his experience with putting together Grace's baby furniture, but Steve notices that Chin's mood is a little down.)

"Hey, what's up?"

"I'm good."

"No, you're not. What's up?"

"Steve, really, I'm good."

"Chin, you're not good. What?"

"You know that we've been slowly moving some things from her apartment to my house so that all we'll have to move once we get married is the heavy stuff, so I was boxing up books and pictures last night. Lana had to work late. One of the other nurses called in sick and, instead of getting off at six, she didn't get off work until after nine-thirty and it was nearly ten by the time she got home. She'd apparently had a bad day at work and then had to work late, and when she got home, she got really mad because. . . . I'm not really sure why she got mad. One minute she was fine and the next she almost bit my head off."

"She was probably exhausted, Chin. I mean, the woman's a nurse in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit. She sees a lot of intense stuff and she had to work a fifteen and-a-half hour shift."

"And I appreciate that. I could see how tired she was when she walked in the door, so I asked her if she wanted me to fix her some dinner. She just glared at me and stomped down the hall to the bedroom. So I followed her and asked if something was wrong, and, man, she let me have it."

"What'd she say?"

"What didn't she say? She was mad because she had to work late, she was mad because I had taken some pictures off the wall in her bedroom so I could pack them, she was mad because. . . She was just mad. So I told her I'd sleep at my place so she could get some rest because I was pretty mad myself by that point, and I left."

"It's probably just pre-wedding jitters, Chin. I mean, she'd had a long, stressful day, she's got a lot going on with the wedding, she was tired; I'm sure she wasn't really mad at you. But, Chin, after you're married, you can't go back to your place when you get mad at her because your place and her place are going to be the same place."

"I realize that, Steve. That's why I thinking that maybe we should slow down a little."

"Slow down?"

"Yeah, push the wedding back."

"Chin, you're getting married in less than two weeks. The invitations have gone out, Brah. You can't push the wedding back."

"Sure I can."

(But before Steve can say anything, his cellular phone rings and caller I.D. indicates the Governor is calling. Chin, a resolute expression on his face, slaps Steve on the upper arm and heads out of the office. Steve is torn between answering the call from the Governor or following Chin, but his years of military training and experience win out and he answers the call.

While talking to Steve, Chin was suddenly hit with a sense of unease and he realized that his anxiety level was fairly high. As soon as Steve mentioned that Lana might be stressed over the wedding, it clicked. Especially after Steve reminded him that, after they're married, there really won't be anywhere to go when they have a fight. The walls are starting to close in and Chin doesn't like it one bit. Striding out to the parking lot, he gets on his motorcycle and heads toward the hospital. He needs to talk with Lana and it can't wait until she gets off work.)