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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Well my wonderful readers! After being gone for so long I'm back. I was planning to come back in January but I've had a terrible writer's block in all my stories but especially this one. I did managed to finish up to chapter 379, which is not a lot, and I wanted more in my reserve before I started posting again. Then I had a computer glitch and half of chapter 379 didn't save, which meant I had to rewrite it again. At the current moment I'm done all the way up to chapter 383 which it not nearly as much as I wanted, but I figured I'd start posting again. We have this chapter and next chapter to close out Steve's birthday, and both of these chapters are supposed to be super, super cute, so I hope you guys enjoy them. As always, don't forget to review, let me know if you're glad this story is back, or drop a fav or a follow and I'll see you guys on Friday.

Chapter 378

When they came out of this portal they were in another washroom.

He knew the drill at this point. He sat back and let Rowan go about making sure that it was safe to exit the washroom. This meant that Rowan poked her head out of the door, and once she was sure that the coast the clear she would reach back for Steve. Steve put his hand in hers and she then pulled Steve out.

It was another museum.

And there was a party going on.

The lights were all on dim, there was a giant brachiosaurus standing on a platform, with different colored lights shining onto it. There were people milling around, they were like two feet from a dance floor and Rowan was digging through her backpack again to get her wallet.

"Where are we?"

"We in the ROM," Rowan said absently heading towards a desk of sorts, with colorful looking money already in hand.

"What's that?" he asked as he followed after her. Obviously, a museum but just saying the Acronym didn't tell him where they were.

"The Royal Ontario Museum," she said. "In Toronto. It's Friday Night Live."

Steve nodded. Right so this was Canada, she had taken him to Toronto, the colorful money should have been a dead give away. The problem was, he knew this area.

He knew this area because, when she made that phone call to him on his birthday last year, he had pinged it to this area. In fact, their hotel that time around was right across the street from the ROM, he just hadn't known it at the time. But he also knew that her dad's lab was only a few minutes from here and as was his condo.

They were dangerously close to her family right now and that made him nervous. Mainly because she had said, herself, that she couldn't be around her dad at that moment. That he couldn't know where she was. And Steve really, REALLY, didn't want Rowan to find out that he had deported her dad and brother all those years ago.

Luckily, he didn't have to worry about it long. They got to the front of the line and Rowan skipped right up to the desk.

"I want 6 drink tickets and 6 food tickets please," she said as she handed over the money. She got pink tickets back, like the kind you get at a carnival. She split them up evenly, three of each for him, three of each for hers.

She then pulled him away from desk and towards one of the dance floors.

"When I used to live here, I mean in my old reality not with Wo, when my dad got tired of me and my brother bothering him in his lab, he'd send us here. Two wild children running around the ROM."

She had never told him that before. He wondered what else her parents did, because honestly it didn't sound like either parent did much except emotionally and mentally scar and abandon their children.

He didn't want to parent like that, but he was worried that, with the amount he worked, and the amount of times he had to run off after Rowan to save her, that Nahele would end up growing up feeling abandoned. Once his birthday was done, he was going to have to talk to Rowan about that.

"So where do you wanna go first?"

"Drinks?"

Rowan smiled up at him and then dragged him across the dancefloor to where one of the many drinks tables were set up. She handed over their tickets and put in their order. A beer for Steve and a Rye and Ginger for her. Her drink came first as they were busy opening his beer and pouring it for him as he wasn't allowed to have the bottle.

You know to keep exhibits safe.

When he finally got his drink, he turned to find Rowan on the dance floor, drink in the air swaying back and forth. And for a moment he swore he was just blinded by how beautiful she was.

He really had married that beautiful ethereal creature in front of him.

He crossed to her, only to put an arm around her waist to pull her to him. For a while they swayed together before she tipped her head back and asked: "Want to see some of the exhibits?"

Steve nodded and let her drag him away.

The first place to took him was to the second floor to see the dinosaurs and took a selfie in front of the T-Rex.

As they were wandering around they found food tables, where they could trade in their food tickets. She picked a taco table for herself, he found a burger one that had ostrich burgers to try. They ate in the dinosaur section, including drinking their second drink with it, as they weren't allowed to go to the next exhibit until they finished all their food and drink.

Then they went up to the Egyptian exhibit, that had plenty of mummies to look at. Steve waited until Rowan got really close to the glass before the mummy's face before grabbing her causing her to squeak in fear. But that also led to her turning around and smacking him playfully, which just led to him kissing her frustrated giggles right off of her lips.

She led him next down the hall of animals to the gem exhibit where she presented him with something called Volcanic Ice cream which was ice cream flash frozen with dry ice.

They ate their ice cream while looking at all the world's precious stones and minerals. They then used the last of their tickets on their third drink and a cupcake each.

Then she took him to the bat cave.

"I was always so scared of this, and Trevor always made me go through," she said as she took his hand to lead him through. "He'd put me in the middle of it and then leave me there. He said it was to make me get over my fears, but I hated it."

He could see why. Fake lightning flashed above them and as they moved through the dark a soundtrack of bat squeaks and wing flaps played.

Why any good brother would take their scared little sister through this was beyond him. Though he probably would have done it to Mary, but he would have let her hold his hand the whole time.

They got about half way through when Rowan stopped, turned right around and threw herself at him. It took no effort at all, to pin his wife to the fake rock wall and go about kissing her with all the desire he always had building up inside of him. He just never knew how much he had pent up inside him until he had her in his arms.

And it was always more than he thought.

For a moment there he thought he was going to fuck her right then and there. He was definitely straining to do just that. The only thing that stopped them was the fact that they heard the bats at the entrance go off again. Since they were motion sensored that meant people were coming.

Steve hurriedly put Rowan down and they spent the rest of the time fixing themselves and pretending to be super engrossed in a display of bats in a cave while the people passed. Once they had passed, Steven and Rowan broke out in laughter. She took a hold of his hand and led him out to see the rest of the exhibits.

Once they were done drinking, and eating and seeing all the ROM had to offer, Rowan popped a portal into the gift shop.

It wasn't open so if they got caught they'd get in trouble. But they weren't stealing either. Rowan hadn't gotten a Souvenir from Toronto the last time she was there so she went about picking one for herself as well.

They ended up picking matching dinosaur hoodies. She got a T-Rex and he got a Triceratops and they had picked out a Brachiosaurus hoodie for Nahele so they could all match. He also picked a fossil picture frame for the selfie they took with the T-Rex skeleton. They left a note on the counter with what they took and how much it should have cost, with the correct amount and then she opened another portal to their next adventure.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

The next place they went to it was daytime. Three in the afternoon actually.

They came out in yet another washroom, this time in a school. The University of Oxford specifically.

Rowan had wanted to look around and Steve was more than willing to let that happen.

"The lasts time I was here, this place was closed," she said as they were looking around. "Ford… Langford had paid for them to keep them gardens open for us."

Ah so this had been something that one of her seven men had treated her too. And she wanted to redo it with him.

Why did that make him so happy?

He gladly took his wife's hand so they could walk together, not just hand in hand but shoulder to shoulder.

She eventually led Steve out into the court yard where they headed towards the gardens.

The University of Oxford Botanic Gardens had a Wonderland theme, in fact, the whole town did, as this was the place where Lewis Carroll had lived and worked.

As she walked them through the gardens, she told them all about the differences. How the gardens had been lined with candle lit lanterns which made everything look so much more magical. But in the day light she could see all the intricate details that she had missed.

Then, when she ran out of differences, she sang him a song. A song she had written for Ford. He knew all about the songs that she wrote for each man she met and fucked while she was away. He didn't know the lyrics or music that went with those songs, hell he didn't even know the names. He just knew that they existed.

Flashing lights and we, took a wrong turn and we, fell down a rabbit hole. You held on tight to me, 'cause nothing's as it seems, and spinning out of control. Didn't they tell us don't rush into things? Didn't you flash your green eyes at me? Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds? Ooh, didn't it all seem new and exciting? I felt your arms twisting around me I should've slept with one eye open at night.

And as much as he wanted to hate it. The song was hauntingly beautiful, no doubt matching the atmosphere of this date he had taken her on.

We found Wonderland. You and I got lost in it, and we pretended it could last forever, eh, eh. We found Wonderland. You and I got lost in it, and life was never worse but never better, eh, eh.

Now he wanted to find all the other songs. Figure out if there were seven or six, because he was right and there was one that was double, there should be seven songs.

They got through the Gardens relatively quickly and then they got to wander the town. Rowan found an Alice and Wonderland shop, and picked this specialty figurine.

It was a Disney china figurine, it had Alice and her cat on top of a mushroom, and underneath it was the white rabbit showing the Cheshire cat his watch. It was muted colors, mostly an off-white color but she loved it so she bought it for herself.

Steve wasn't all that interested in Alice in Wonderland, but he did end up picking up a tee shirt to wear on his runs with the British flag on it, and he picked another picture frame for the selfie they had taken in the gardens. This one was Alice in Wonderland themed, but he figured suited the picture as it was Wonderland themed as well.

It was about the quickest place they stopped off at, and he felt bad. He wanted to stop, maybe do afternoon tea in the birth place of afternoon tea, but Rowan seemed to be in a rush and she wouldn't stop, even for the tea.

Which was telling as she loved afternoon tea.

So only half an hour after they got there, they were heading for the next place.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

It was a beach.

Rowan had taken him to a beach.

"Ro… Ro… we have beaches in Hawaii," he said as Rowan tugged him down the beach and to the water. "Why are we here?"

"Well firstly, it's California," she said, alright, fine, they were in Cali, so what? "And I wanted you to be able to do something that you like to do, not just jumping to places that I liked."

But that was stupid, because he had loved everything that they had been doing today. He was literally going to be able to say that he had been to almost every important Museum in the world, all on one day. He could only say it to people who knew about Rowan's powers but still.

"But Ro…"

"Nope," she said shaking her head. She was leading him towards a hut. "You get to go surfing. And I'm going to sit in the sun and watch you from here."

"I don't have my…" he started, but Rowan went into the backpack and took out his bathing suit. She clearly expected to rent or buy towels here and he kind of like the idea of that.

"Are we going to buy towels? Like matching Cali towels?" he asked.

She turned to him wide eyed. Clearly, she hadn't thought of that. "Oh! And one for Nahele too!"

"Of course, one for Nahele!" he cried and she clapped her hands. "After you surf, we'll pick one…"

"How about we pick one now? So, I can dry off when I'm done surfing."

"Okay, that's fair," she said and then did a full 180. She took him away from what was no doubt a surf shop and took him towards the board walk. She must have spent a lot of time here, because she took him straight to a kiosk selling towels.

"Did you uh…"

"Mackie and I had a few boardwalk dates but I spent most of my time here with Wo and Con," she said and he nodded, because of course.

Well she was here with him now so that was all that mattered.

So, he turned his attention down to the large beach towels at hand trying to find designs that he would like, Nahele would like and Rowan would like.

"I like this kiosk because they have the nicest towels and they do customizations!" she cried and he found himself beaming. Because that was what was going to make this souvenir even better.

"Babe! You have the best ideas!" he said and she beamed up at him. This bright, wide smile that just made him smile even more, because he loved making her smile like that. And he loved that all he really ever had to do was compliment her and she would just glow.

There wasn't much talking once they started looking at the different towels. Steve was busy looking for a specific towel for his wife. He wanted to find her the perfect one, because he knew she was going to pick the perfect one for him.

As expected, Rowan found him a Navy-blue towel that had a white anchor on it. And on the anchor were the words Seas the Day.

It was him to a tee. He loved it, she even had the perfect place to put his name, which would also be in white, right under the anchor.

She handed it off to the person running this kiosk, and he went back to searching for the perfect towel for her. And while he was searching, she found an equally perfect one for Nahele.

His had the beach and the waves, and in the sand, it was written: "Let the sea set you free", which was also perfect for him.

She wanted to put his name, this time in black and the bottom under the quote. She asked what Steve thought and he loved it. So, she handed that off to the person helping them.

She paid for the first two but he hadn't found one for her yet. She asked them to start putting the names on the two towels she had bought as Steve continued to look.

It was legitimately the last towel he looked at, and actually the last towel of that kind at the kiosk.

It was a mermaid tail, on a mermaid scaled background. It was mostly pink and blues but, but the mermaid tail was more purple. But it was the quote: "If you can, be a mermaid," that sold it for him.

This was Rowan's towel. This one.

He happily brought it forward but wouldn't let her look at it. He got his wallet out of the backpack despite her wanting to pay, but he put his foot down. This one he was going to pay for.

He shooed her away to tell them what name to put on the towel, handed over the money for it and then went to join Rowan.

"Are we good?" she asked him and he nodded. They went back to the surf shop, he picked a board and then they went to pick a place for Rowan to sit in.

Once Rowan was sitting, he took his bathing suit and went to one of the public changerooms to get changed.

He came back to Rowan to where he had left her and his rented board. He handed her off his clothes, glanced out to the crazily inviting waves and then back to his incredibly understanding wife. "Are you sure you just want to sit on the beach? You could come with me. Do what you did last time? Just sit on the board and watch? That wasn't so bad."

"Yep," she said. "I wanna see you cut it out on the waves and hang ten or something."

Steve knew she was trying but she had a lot wrong. He stooped in to kiss her and that just made her smile wider at him.

"I'll have the towels ready by the time you come back," she said.

Steve merely nodded and ran out towards the water.

He paddled himself out of there, he got himself into position so he could wait for the next swell. This meant facing the beach where he could make out his wife sitting on the beach.

He waved at her, which got her to wave back to him and for a moment he contemplated just paddling back to shore.

He knew what she was doing of course. Giving him the sort of birthday activity that he always liked. The active, outdoorsy kind. She was, however, not participating because it wasn't her thing. It was still nice that she had come with him, that she planned to watch, even though he'd rather have her with him.

He obliged her though. Catching at least four decent waves before he paddled back to the shore.

With his board under his arm he jogged back to where his wife was sitting, but before he even got to her someone bounced into his way.

Steve simply figured the platinum blonde Barbie doll looking girl in front of him had simply gotten in his way, hadn't realized or seen him coming. Except that was not what had happened.

She blinked those big blue eyes up at him, but they weren't shocking blue like his wife's eyes. They were generic blue and they did nothing to him.

She was in a bubble-gum pink full piece bathing suit with holes cut out in what he assumed were strategic places. She kept flipping her high pony tail all over the place while smiling at him, her eyes dancing up his body in a way that made him uncomfortable.

He knew what she was doing, which was flirting and he wasn't even going to let her talk. So the second she opened her mouth he said: "I'm here with my wife so if you could kindly get the fuck out of my way I'd be eternally grateful."

There was no need for him to be so crass or aggressive with her. But he wasn't going to let this girl make his wife feel self conscious.

The girl's smile faded immediately. Her face went red under her tan, and a frown creased her features taking the attractiveness away from her right away. Not that Steve found her attractive in any way in the first place. He only had eyes for his Ro.

"Unless there's an actual issue I should be worried about?" he asked trying to give her an out.

"Well no…"

"Then fucking move," he snapped using his board to nudge her out of the way so he could make it to his wife who was just sitting there with this shit-eating grin on her face, clearly trying to mask her giggles.

He sat down in the sand beside her, noting right away that the towels weren't ready yet which meant that he was going to have to either wait in the cold or change damp or go back out on the water to stay warm.

"Sorry about that."

"No problem," she said. "Thanks for uh… telling her off."

"I figured if I was rude right out of the gate I'd stop anyone else from coming up," he said and she laughed at that.

"Good game plan," she said. "We've got another twenty minutes on the towels. You wanna go back out there?"

He'd rather sit there with her, but he didn't mind going back out onto the waves.

"What do you say about us getting our Selfie taken?" he asked and she turned to him. "Me and you out on the water."

"I don't have a bathing suit Steven."

"Fine, me and you calf deep in the water," he amended. "We can get someone to take it for us, what do you say?"

Rowan's smile widened. "Can I have a minute to make myself presentable?"

"You're always presentable," he said but she was already looking for something in the backpack. No doubt a mirror to do touch ups.

She had gone for a very neutral look today, and it looked great on her.

While she was doing that, he flagged down someone who would be willing to take a picture of them. Luckily, he found someone who called herself an instagramer, or whatever that meant, and she was totally willing to take hashtag couple goals photos for them.

Steve had no idea what that meant either but he figured it was good.

When Rowan was ready she joined him out in the waves. Not too far. Calf deep at best. The girl he found, and her friends, all gave them advice on poses they could do that were hashtag cute that dutifully posed for while the girl took photos with Rowan's phone. He had no idea why she kept adding the word hashtag before adjectives and phrases and he had a feeling he was going to have to ask Nahele why that was happening.

They got them a whole bunch of really cute photos, Steve thanked them, and then followed his wife back to where they had their stuff.

Though he didn't want to she convinced him to go out on the waves again. He got in a few good runs before finally coming back in for good.

By then Rowan had the souvenir towels. The plan was he'd get ready for their next jump and she'd return the board.

Rowan handed him his towel and the plastic bag that went with it. So, Steve could put his wet clothes in that and not get the backpack wet.

"Did you uh… did you like it?" he asked. "Your towel? I know you peeked."

Rowan smiled. "I did. I love it! We're gonna have to have a backyard beach day with all our towels," she said and he smiled so happily and then pulled her into for a quick kiss.

She shooed him off towards the changerooms. He changed back into dry clothes, made sure that plastic bag was sealed and then met her on the boardwalk.

She let him pick one more souvenir picture frame before they were jumping to the next place.

And he was hoping that this place included something to eat because it was almost 8pm in Hawaii and he was starting to get hungry!

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

They came out and he knew exactly where he was, because he knew what Wo Fat's kitchen looked like.

But it wasn't just Wo Fat and Jian waiting there for him. His mother was there too.

As soon as they saw them, both Wo Fat and Jian blew into those New Year's Eve noise makers and his mom clapped.

"Aww, there's my birthday boy!" she cried moving in to hug him.

"Hey mom," he said, once the hug was done, he got a brief one from Jian and a sort of awkward bro hug from Wo. He looked around, wondering if this was all the people coming to this portion of their trip.

"No Con?" he asked.

"Naw, he's dealing with the last stop," Rowan said. There was more after this? "He's getting everything ready for it, and from the texts I've been getting, Danny's been driving him crazy."

God, Con was with Danny? That wasn't good.

"Please don't let Con kill Danny," he said but Rowan was already texting. He figured she was sending that exact order so he felt a little better about that.

"Okay, so I know it's 3pm here, but we're doing dinner," she said. "Wo has gotten us a reservation at the hippest new place. Then we're going to do some shopping, and I need to pick up some stuff for Nahele. I got him stuff from Japan the last time I was here, and I lost it in the boat fire, so I'm looking for some replacement stuff."

"And I get to pick my souvenir."

Obviously, that was part of it but he just wanted to be sure. Luckily everyone simply nodded so they knew that this was part of the plan.

"Yes, but I get to pay for it," Wo said. "Mom called dibs on dinner. Jian and I call dibs on souvenir."

Steve was impressed, he managed to let Wo called his mother, mom and he hadn't made a face or objected. He called that progress.

"Would you be okay with that?" she asked. "That you get dinner as your gift and not something…"

"Of course mom," he said. "The greatest gift is having you here."

"Well, you can thank Rowan for that. She pulled me here last night. I got to have some bonding time with one son and I get to spend my birthday with the other. It's been a pretty great couple of days for me," she said and Steve tried to not let it twinge that her mother had bonding time with Wo. He kept reminding himself that Wo was her son by choice but that didn't mean that she loved Steve any less. "Where's my grand-son?"

"He's not here," Rowan said. "We did family birthday last night, which combined their two birthdays together. He's with his friends tonight."

Doris deflated and pulled out a small box. "But I got him something…"

Rowan took it right away and put it into her backpack. "Oh don't worry, I'll give it to him. We'll skype when he opens it, how about that?"

"That would be wonderful."

"Alright the reservation is in twenty minutes. You two are late so we're cutting it close…"

"He wanted to pick another souvenir…" Rowan started but Wo just put a hand out to stop her.

"No arguing, car now," he ordered ushering them towards the door. "And no, you don't get to drive McGarrett."

Steve sighed. Well, at least he got to be with his mom for his birthday. So far that was the best gift of all.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

It was a Noodle bar. Nothing to fancy so they didn't have to dress up, but apparently it had just opened and it was super popular so it was a big deal that Wo Fat had gotten them in there.

They all basically had this fancy version of ramen, his mom told stories. Not just about Steve when he was younger, but Wo Fat too.

When it came to dessert, they came it was a strawberry shortcake with a sparkler in it and at this piece of chocolate with Happy Birthday written on it.

He made sure that Jian or Wo took pictures of him and Rowan with the cake so that they had a picture everywhere they had gone that day. They also took a picture of the whole table, but he had a feeling he couldn't display that in his front foyer, especially since no one was supposed to know that he was in contract with his mother or Wo Fat. But it was nice to have the picture. Maybe he'd put it in his wallet or something.

When the cake was done and Doris had paid the bill Wo Fat and Jian took them to Shibuya which was the closest Shopping district.

Rowan went to the Pokémon store and bought a few Pikachu themed things for Nahele and a few Hello Kitty themed things for herself.

She was currently in a stationery store going crazy over journals and pens and other things with the rest of the women so he was hanging out with Wo Fat.

"What about this?" Wo Fat asked holding up a picture frame that hand Mount Fuji decorating it.

"Maybe," he said. "We didn't get to go to Fuji, you know?"

Wo Fat put it down and Steve picked up this intricate stamp looking thing. He wasn't sure what it was but it looked cool.

"It's a Hanko," Wo said. "It's your name in Chinese characters, except in this round stamped symbol, we could ask to have your name put onto it for you."

"Huh… actually yeah, that seems cool," he said. Wo Fat nodded took the little case out of his hands and flagged the person over. As they talked in Japanese Steve went back to the picture frames. He ended up finding a wooden one, based off the Torii Gateway, it was made of a chestnut wood and it looked like it would match everything else he had bought.

He only had to hold it for a little too long for Rowan to come and snatch it up and out of his hands. "No, I pay," she said already scampering off. Steve shook his head but let it happen. She wanted to treat him and that was super sweet of her. Why would he say no?

Wo Fat came back with this finished Stamp and handed it to Steve, who was just going to have to put it into Rowan's backpack. Actually, that backpack was probably heavy, he really should have taken it from her by now.

"So, I got you blue ink and the traditional red, you can choose what you want to do with it. Jian has picked some stationery for you as well to write us letters. Don't let that pressure you. You don't have to send us letters."

"Thanks man," Steve found himself whispering. There were a lot of emotions there, but it basically all culminated in Steve deciding that next year he wasn't just going to put his name on Wo Fat's gift. He was going to work on getting him a good one. If Wo could make an honest effort in this twisted relationship they had, then so could Steve.

"But uh… you have to pick a second gift," Wo said and Steve frowned. "I don't mean here and now, I mean you have to pick a second gift, from Con. He's insisted that you choose, I'll pay and he'll pay me back."

"That's really nice of him but he doesn't…"

"You want to tell the unstable and very bored assassin no?"

"Well… it's not like he can kill me right? It would upset Ro and you know… you guys owe me…" Wo just stared at him and he nodded. "I'll uh… I'll find something else."

"Good choice."

When Rowan finally left the shop they were in, she was heading straight for the Studio Ghibli store. There she bought herself all these cute little things, including a Totoro plush for herself, and a Haku Furin, which was apparently a windchime. He realized then that she had bought him a traditional one, and a glass one for Nahele with koi fish. They were to go on the porch, one for each of them.

It was while she was in that shop that he saw the vendor with the dolls. They had stand alone and couples and already he was thinking of putting them in their room. A little Ro and Steve doll set.

"They're Ryukyu dolls," Wo said. "Were you interested?"

Steve nodded and the stall owner came over. Wo started talking to him, pointing first to Steve and then to Rowan and the man nodded.

He began pulling out fabric. Steve picked out a light purple and gold for Rowan's dolls kimono, and then he picked out his colors. Navy blue and white.

The man nodded and Wo took out the money and handed it to him.

"He's gotta put them together for you."

"Thanks," Steve said.

"Don't thank me, these will be from Con," he said.

They had to wait for it to be done and by then all the women were basically done shopping. When they got the dolls he held onto them, he didn't want to chance putting in the bag and having them break.

But this wasn't the end of the night. No, they all went back to Wo's apartment where a suit was put into his hands, and his wife opened up portals.

First to their house to drop everything off, including his Ryukyu dolls. Then she, Doris and Jian vanished, going… well he didn't know where.

That left him and Wo to change into full out penguin suits. So like, not just a suit, but a whole tux.

"I know you know where we're going," he said as he was trying to tie his bowtie.

Wo Fat, who had tied his with no issue, swatted Steve's hands away and then went about tying the bowtie for him.

"I do know. And it's a secret. But I will tell you you're going to like it," he said.

"Okay, I guess I'll trust you."

Wo's phone chirruped and he picked it up. "Right, portal's open, you ready to go? It's the last stop, I promise."

Steve took one last look at himself. He looked a little bit like a puffed-out penguin, and he had let Wo Fat style his hair too, so he felt a little bit like he was looking a little ridiculous.

But if it made Rowan smile then he was going to go with it.

Wo Fat opened up the door, one that had a portal attached to it and together they walked through it and to the next stop on the adventure.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Grace was grateful that she was at her mom's this weekend. Because telling her dad that she wanted to go to the beach for a boy's bonfire birthday party would have ended in disaster.

In fact, the only reason her mom even agreed was because it was Nahele's birthday she was going to.

She was originally going to go by herself, but Will had also been invited, because of course Nahele would invite him too, and he had been surprised that she was going. Why would she go? He had asked. It was all older boys. Nahele had invited her to be nice. There was no way that a seventeen-year-old boy wanted a girl who was still fifteen at his bonfire birthday party. Even if she was about to be sixteen soon.

But she was going anyway, which meant Will was going to let her go by himself, so he met her there.

Was she annoyed? Yes! Because Nahele was her friend and he had invited her. He had invited her because, as his friend, he wanted her there. He had probably invited Will because he was dating Grace and that was it.

But Grace and Nahele, their dad's were BFF's reluctantly, so she was closer to him by proxy. So it would make sense that she'd get the invite over him anyway.

She had dressed up, because that's what you did at parties. Choosing to wear leggings and a nice top. Her mom had dropped her off, telling her not to stay out past ten thirty and to call her when it was time to go back to the house.

As they were walking towards where the party was, already Grace could see that this was a party that their parents wouldn't approve of.

She could see other kids drinking, a red solo cups were in everyone's hands. Will immediately stopped.

"Oh, whoa, no, see this isn't cool," he said. "If my dad finds out about this, he's going to kill me."

Both her dad and Mr. Grover were out for the night too. Something to do with her Uncle Steve's birthday. And since Will was pretty strait-laced, a by-product of being a cop's kid, this was going to be an issue.

Grace did not want to be dating the person who ruined Nahele's birthday party by calling the cops.

"Okay, just cause other kids are drinking, doesn't mean that we have to panic. I'm not going to drink, you don't have to drink, let's just leave it."

"My dad will freak out and you know it," he said. "And your dad will be worse!" When Grace just glared at him he added: "And you know his parents wouldn't be happy either."

Grace cocked an eyebrow at him and he huffed. "Okay, Steve wouldn't like this."

But that didn't matter. None of the adults were here and this was the first older kids party either of them had been invited too and she was not going to let him ruin it.

"If this is going to be an issue, go home," she snapped. "But try not to ruin it for the rest of us. Or Nahele, who was nice enough to invite you to a party out of your popularity circle."

Then she purposely stormed away from him. The party wasn't that big, party wise. There were mostly Juniors from their school. There was more than one fire pit going on, but only one big bonfire and that's where Nahele was sitting.

As per usual, Nahele had his friends with him, but it's not just his friends, there were girls. He was handsome, so girls were almost always around him.

And she could see why.

The fire light was just hitting him right. It lit up everything that made him, him. The harsh angles of his face, the copper tones in his hair, the warm honey glint in his brown eyes.

He had obviously let his mom pick out his outfit cause he was dressed kind of like a mini Steve. He was in an army green button down with a few buttons undone to call attention to his chest. His sleeves were rolled up and he was in jeans and flipflops.

She both wanted to go over and didn't. She didn't like to compete with his attention over the girls that were usually fawning around him.

A lot of them were popular, prettier girls, closer to his age. But he saw her hovering and nodded to her. So she waved to him. He had a bit of a smile, he started to get up which meant he was coming over but she was distracted.

A boy, clearly in Nahele's year, was beside her offering her a cup. "Want something to drink?" he asked.

She took it, just to not be rude, she fully planned on not drinking it, but the boy in front of her wouldn't stop smiling.

"Not going to try it?" he asked.

Before she could say she wasn't thirsty right at that moment, Nahele appeared beside her.

"Don't drink that," he said snatching the cup from her and then turning to the boy who was offering it to her. "I know you like sophomores cause they don't know better but this one does."

The boy scowled at him but Nahele stood his ground. "Seriously. Get lost."

Once he was gone Nahele tossed the contents of the drink onto the sand. "Sorry about that. It was supposed to be a dry party, but someone else brought the alcohol and I couldn't stop it from there…"

"That's fine," she said. "I wasn't going to drink it anyway." Nahele half smiled at her and then glanced away from her. "Uhm… thanks for inviting me."

"No probs," he said quickly and then winced like he couldn't believe he said that to her. She wasn't quite sure she believed it either. "Uh… where's Will? I hope he got the invite…"

"No he did," she said. "He's uhm… he's being annoying. Hopefully he's not calling the cops, or worse, our dads."

"Oh god, not our dads!" he cried and Grace found herself laughing.

He checked his watch and then turned a smile up to her. "Uh… Well, uhm… have fun. Don't take any drinks from Eric, and uhm… maybe find Will before he snitches."

He then gave her a hug and actually walked away. Except he wasn't walking towards any of the other bonfires, he was heading towards the buildings, the public washroom in particular.

Grace should have left him, if what he needed was to go to the washroom, but something felt off. Like he was going there for a specific reason. That, and she had gotten him something and she wanted to give it to him.

Preferably before he was surrounded by girls again.

So she rushed off after him.

"You keep checking your watch," she called which got him to stop and turn to her. "Is it new?"

Nahele looked down to it and then back up to her with that smile she knew he inherited from her Uncle Steve. Well he didn't look upset that she was tagging after him, so that was a good sign.

"Yeah," he said. "It's Steve's old one. It uh… it was a gift from his dad and it got him through basic training and BUD/S and the SEALs and he… he passed it down to me."

That was really thoughtful and Nahele seemed super excited about it.

"Here…. I uh… I got you something small," she said pulling the small hastily wrapped package out of her purse to hand to him.

"Wow, really?" he asked. "You didn't have to do that."

She watched him rip the package open and look them over.

"Aw shark socks!" he cried and then he moved to hug her. "They're great I love them."

She let him hug her again, this time, unconsciously, taking a deep breath. She got nothing but that warm spicy smell that made him up. Was it bad that she wanted to ask what it was that he was wearing so she could get Will to wear it?

But why they were hugging she literally felt him checking her watch again. This wasn't like him, though, normally he wasn't waiting for her to leave him alone, so thought she felt like he wanted her gone, she knew he wasn't meaning to give her that impression. Well… she hoped he wasn't meaning to give her that impression.

"Are you waiting for something?" she asked him as she pulled away.

"Yeah, I'm kind of late for something," he admitted, which was odd because it was in the middle of his party. "It's got something to do with my dad's birthday. And… you know, after everything I kind of feel like I owe it to him to at least make an effort."

She nodded because she totally got that. But then there was this static pop that broke the silence between them. She jumped and grabbed his arm, wildly looking around for the source of the sound, but there was nothing.

"What was that?" she asked, noting that he was watching a building, specifically a door to the public washroom behind them. The door, itself seemed to be glowing so she figured there was a very bright light behind there.

"What was what?" he asked and then he looked at his watch again. "Look I really gotta go… just for a couple of minutes. If you want, when I come back, we sit by the fire or something, what do you say?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she said letting go of his arm so he could walk away.

He thanked her, walked a couple of steps away and then stopped and turned backed to her.

"So uh… did you wanna… uh… come with me?" he asked. Grace stared at him and the hand he was offering her.

And to her it was a no brainer.

She took that hand he offered her, and let him pull her through the doorway doing her best to avoid the tingling that ran up her arm and through her body as she passed through it.