The Professional

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: And here's another late chapter. I'm sorry I'm such a diaster this week my wonderful readers. I've had a migraine that keeps coming and going and things are picking up at work so I'm super distracted. This chapter is a bit more angsty but next chapter we've got some DRAMA coming. If I stay on track too this story will be done in 6 chapters. Is that cool?! Anyway, as always don't forget to leave a review or drop a fav or a follow and I'll see you next week.

Chapter 16

For the three days that Rowan was concussed, Steve was off work. And because he was home with them at all times Rowan was once again better behaved.

Every morning he'd bring her down the stairs, he didn't have to carry her he simply chose to, and he'd drop her on the couch and she and Trevor would spend the day watching TV together.

Sometimes she'd play the guitar and he wrote down whatever she asked him too. But most of the time, no matter if she was watching TV, playing with the guitar, or napping on his couch, she was under the watchful gaze of not just Trevor, but Steve. Steve was always in his lazy-boy, or working on his car in the garage. But between the two of them, they'd make sure she was resting and not getting too excited doing whatever it was they were doing.

Steve learned that Rowan could count cards, and that Trevor and her had a tacit understanding between them that he would let her count cards and she would split the pot with him.

They had played a few rounds of poker before Steve caught on. He reminded them that you couldn't count cards in poker, and that may have been true, but Rowan had a reasonable idea of what was in Steve's hand based on his response and some complicated statistics. That had they hadn't been shuffling the deck. So, as long as she remembered the order in which the cards went down, add that to the known responses and the statistics she had been pretty much spot on.

All of which had been odd to him because Rowan had not done well in school, according to both siblings so how they hell had she gotten so good at counting cards?

On the fourth day, Rowan was cleared by the doctor. No more concussion but Steve didn't go to work. He wanted one last day with her before he had to go to work and things went back to normal.

So they were out on his beach with a picnic. Rowan was splashing in the water with Eddie, refusing to go farther than where she could touch and Eddie was having fun fetching balls and sticks and whatever else he wanted Rowan to throw.

Steve and Trevor were sitting side by side, not really talking. Trevor, probably because he was still awkward after Steve had accosted him like that. Steve because he wanted to ask a question and he wasn't sure how to phrase it.

But the silence was weighing on him so eventually he just asked it.

"So uh… I have a question," Steve asked and Trevor turned to him. "So uh… how exactly did Rowan meet Wo Fat?"

Trevor sighed. "That would be my fault," he said. "I uhm… I've been gambling for a while and uhm… the loan shark I had before the Stepanov's… he uhm… was a bit of a crime boss… I didn't think Canada had those but I was wrong. He uhm… uhm… he was going to break my legs unless I could get him uh… a shipment from a local smuggler working with the Yakuza. We did not know that at the time, we were told it was a smuggler, and we were stealing a shipment from him. I didn't know why he wanted it but uhm… it was that or he was going to beat the shit out of me so I uhm… I asked Rowan for help…"

"Oh my god."

"Yeah… I know, shit brother," he said.

"Did you actually get it?"

"Yeah, and it turned out to be a bomb, we had no idea."

Yeah, Wo Fat definitely dealt in arms and bombs, so that sounds about right.

"Anyway… he uh… he showed up at our house trying to figure out who we were working for and why we had his bomb and Rowan just… she just started crying and told him our whole story, about how I was a gambler and how she had to help me pay off my debts and he was just glaring at me… and… well he decked me pretty hard."

So that was it. Rowan had cried and Wo Fat's non-existent heart started up? Really? Steve got it, of course, but still, Wo Fat wasn't like him. That shouldn't have worked on him.

"So that was it? She started crying and he decided he liked her?"

"No. He said she had to help him get it back," Trevor said. "And she did. I didn't get to go with her, it was just her and him, and well… whatever happened on that heist did it for him. After that he decided that he was going to take care of her. And no one would fuck with her anymore."

And by proxy, Trevor.

Or well, Trevor took that and ran with it.

"He really killed your dad?" Trevor asked and Steve nodded. "Yeah, the man was always unhinged. You should have heard some of the shit he said he'd do to me if I didn't stop throwing Rowan under the bus…"

"Didn't stop you though."

Trevor winced. "Yeah, I kinda figured he wouldn't actually cause Rowan would have been upset and he was all about making her happy… you know?"

"No I don't. because the person he was with her was not a person that existed anywhere else. The man I met, was a psychopath, a lethal, vicious, psycho who didn't care who he hurt. This version she met, is a person only she knows. And to be honest, despite the proof I'm not sure I believe it."

Trevor laughed at that. "Well… I saw it with my own two eyes," he said. "I watched that man hug her once, of his own volition. He used to ruffle her hair, or do this thing where he'd pinch her chin as like a form of endearment. He actually smiled at her."

"Wow, that's just… wow unbelievable."

"That's what everyone said too. I used to ask you know. When people would freak out about her showing up, I'd ask when she wasn't looking. And they all said the same thing. That they didn't quite believe it, but… with his temper they didn't want to chance it."

Steve half scoffed. Yeah. That also sounded right. Before Steve took him down Wo Fat had quite the reputation.

"You know, she could walk into one of his warehouses and they'd just part like the red sea for her," Trevor said. "No one ever stopped her, not even him. She could walk right into one of his deals, and he'd just smile at her and tell him to wait in his office."

Steve couldn't help but smile, he kind of liked the image this was creating. Of a little Rowan and Wo Fat who would be equally frustrated and doting.

"How old was she?"

"Like seventeen turning eighteen."

Wow so like… really young.

"Okay, yeah, I guess I can get how this happened."

Trevor shot him a smile. "If it makes you feel better, everyone else was just as confused as you are."

That did make him feel better.

At least he wasn't the only one blind sided by the sudden change in Wo Fat's behaviour. He rather imagined seeing it in person would have been shocking, because just hearing about it had thrown him for a loop.

He opened his mouth to thank Trevor for the explanation, only to be cut off by the sound of gunshot.

Trevor immediately, ducked. Steve ducked as well, and out in the water, Rowan fell.

Another shot rang out, closer to Trevor, Steve saw as the sand exploded beside him. Steve grabbed him throwing him towards the trees as he went for his gun.

Another couple shots rang out and Steve too found cover behind a tree, trying to figure out where the they were coming from and shouting Rowan's name.

He kept glancing to the water, where all he could see was Rowan floating, Eddie standing over her and red in the waves. She wasn't answering either him or Trevor.

The gunshots were coming from the house, he wasn't sure if there was someone in the house or around it, but he couldn't tell where exactly they were. Eventually the shots stopped and Steve slowly edged out from behind his tree. There was no movement, still no response from Rowan, but he did hear a car peeling away.

He counted to five, glanced back to the water where Eddie still stood over Rowan and decided to chance it.

"Rowan," he cried rushing towards her. He noted Trevor moving beside him, so he was sure to shoot a: "Trevor, stay there," over his shoulder.

Trevor stopped moving and stood back, watching as Steve rushed over to where Rowan had been floating. He got her up and she looked at him with squinted eyes.

"Are they gone?" she asked.

"I don't know, come on," he said pulling her up. He dragged her back to where Trevor was waiting, Eddie didn't need the order, he followed Steve as they moved.

Rowan's arm was bleeding, it looked like a through and through. She wouldn't die from it but she would need a doctor.

"Right," he said. "You two are going to stay here and I'm going to see if the coast is clear. I don't care what you hear, do not come looking for me until I call you okay?"

Rowan nodded, as Steve ripped the bottom hem off his shirt. "Wrap your arm up."

"Okay," Trevor said taking the strip of cloth from him.

"Be careful," Rowan whispered to him and he nodded.

He wanted to kiss her. To hold her and reassure her that it was going to be okay, but right now he had bigger issues.

With gun in hand, he made his way to the house. He carefully let himself in, looking for any sign of an intruder. He got his cell phone, and immediately called Danny asking him to send HPD back up to his house and an ambulance.

He cleared the house, and cleared the perimeter, but didn't go to get Rowan and Trevor right away.

He couldn't believe this happened. He couldn't believe that someone had gotten the drop on him… in his own house.

Rowan had gotten hurt again, but this time it was his fault.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve and Trevor went with her in the ambulance to the Tripler Army Medical Center. This was the hospital she had woken up in, two times at this point, and it was apparently the hospital that Steve was always in after work injuries. He liked this one because he was an ex-SEAL and this was an army hospital, with army personnel working for them.

Rowan had never seen Trevor so excited to be in a hospital before. He was surrounded by sailors and soldiers and just… very attractive male officers. Both boys stayed with her until the doctor was ready to see her, which was rather quickly as Steve flashed his Five-0 badge to get her moved to the front of the line.

But once she was in with the doctor both of them left.

Trevor went off in search of his own Steve.

Steve went off to make an important, and apparently very urgent phone call.

This left Rowan alone to get a bullet removed and seven stitches.

She very luckily had a very handsome male nurse to hold her hand through it. To distract her from the pain and the fact that she had almost begged Steve to stay with her, which would have been pathetic.

When Steve came back, he had a somber look about him. The Doctor told them both that she was fine. The bullet was out, the injury stitched and wrapped up. They just had to make sure she didn't get infected, and if it did, to come right back.

He thanks the doctor for his time, pinned a dark glare on the nurse who was still trying to flirt with her, and, once that dark glare scared him off, they were alone.

He took a hold of her and tugged her up onto her feet and into his arms. For a while he just held her until he pushed her away from him and held her an arms length away by her shoulders.

He had this strange look on his face that she didn't quite like. It was making her nervous. Like he had bad news for her.

And after the last few months of nothing but good news, she didn't want to get bad news.

"I could have lost you today," he whispered and fear coiled into Rowan's stomach. She recognized the look now, it was guilt. Good men did terrible things when they felt guilty.

"But you didn't."

Steve took a deep breath and tried to smile at her, but it just made his lips quiver before he finally just gave up and frowned.

"I called WITSEC," he told her and she nodded, well he'd have to report the attack. "They uhm… they're going to be taking custody of you."

Rowan blinked her eyes. She was unaware that she had ever left their custody. "What… what does that mean?"

Steve seemed to steel himself, expecting whatever he said next to cause an argument. And once he told her she understood why.

"It means you're going with them. They're going to find you a new placement."

Rowan felt her insecurities flaring up, she was starting to hyperventilate. "You're sending me away?"

"I have to, Rowan," he said, practically pleading with her to see reason. But all she heard was that she was being sent away again, that Steven didn't want her. "Rowan, you're not safe with me, and I need to get you somewhere safe, do you understand?"

She did. But she didn't want to go. She didn't want him to send her away.

"But… I mean… I'll be good… I'll listen more…"

"Rowan this isn't about listening to me. You were off on your own today, you were with me, at my house, on my beach and someone managed to get into my house to shoot you. Do you understand? You didn't do anything wrong. You're not being sent away because I'm mad."

Wow, for such a short time dating, Steven sure did know her well.

"I want you to stay with me," he told her. "Of course I do. But I wanted you to be safe more. So they're going to move you and Trevor…"

"And you… you're not coming with us, are you?" she asked.

Her blue eyes held his gaze so she saw the wince that covered his face. "I… I can't Rowan. I have… my work… my life…"

All of it was here and she clearly wasn't worth him leaving that behind until the trial.

"I get it," she said shakily, trying her very hardest not to cry in front of this man. "Uhm… so… so how does this work?"

"HPD is send a unit to stand outside the door… I'll have to… find Trevor… he's still in the hospital, right?"

"Yeah, he's probably trying to flirt with a sailor or something," she said and he nodded.

"Right. Well, you two are going to stay here. I'm going to go back to the house and pack up all your stuff and… hopefully catch Missy. Uhm… and then when WITSEC is ready they're going to take you to the airport to get you on a private plane to your new safe house."

"Actually… I was wondering uhm… if maybe you'd hold onto Missy for me," she asked. "It's just that… she likes your house… and… and… you… and she hates moving and airplanes… and… and… maybe… you know since you'll have Missy I'll have to come back… you know to get her…"

She waited for him to say something about how he didn't actually want her to come back. Something like how it would be better to take the cat with her. He was too kind of a man to actually say to her that he didn't want her to come back, but he'd think of some way to make his feelings known in the most polite way possible.

"If you're okay with that… yeah… of course I'll watch her for you."

Oh. Oh. So maybe… maybe this wasn't as bad as it sounded.

"Right well uhm… I have that bag of cash in your closet, you can keep that as cat care…"

"I don't… I mean that's a lot of… don't you need it?"

"Naw," she said with a shake of her head. "I can get more money in basically any country I go to."

Steve nodded but didn't say anything, which was a normal response for him. He always got uncomfortably silent when she talked about Wo Fat and the things he did for her. Or in this case the various trust funds he sent up for her.

After a moment of silence, Steve pulled her back to his chest and held her again. And for a long time he did hold her but eventually he let her go, he went and found Trevor and then left her alone in that hospital.

And when Trevor was busy flirting with the HPD guards he had watching their room, Rowan cried.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

This sucked.

Everything this about this sucked.

If he were Wo Fat, he would have kept her. Kept her close to him, restricted her movements, chained her up or something. But he couldn't be selfish with her.

Rowan was like the wind. Wild, free and untamable. She wanted to run, feel the wind in her hair and the sun on her face. She'd hate being captive and Steve didn't want to be the person to do that to her.

And she clearly wasn't safe here either. They knew she was on the island, keeping her here and in plain sight, thinking that her affiliation to Five-0 would keep her safe, like Wo Fat's name had once done for her, had been stupid on his part.

But he had been blinded. Blinded by his feelings for her, blinded by the need to keep her that had burned through his body. That still burned through him.

Now he needed to do what was best for her.

So three hours after he called WTISEC to report the breach and tell them to move her, Steve was meeting them at the airstrip.

He had packed up all of Trevor's things, packed up all of Rowan's clothes, and extras that she had bought over time. He had gotten the head butt from Missy, and told her that he'd be back, and that so would her mom… at some point, but until then she'd be safe with him.

He kept the money as Rowan suggested though.

He'd count it at one point and was sure he'd be shocked at the amount in there.

But at that moment he was handing off the Pierce's belonging, and hoping that he could get one last moment with Rowan.

The problem was he saw a familiar and unwanted face among the agents waiting for him.

Malcolm Garbo was standing with the other agents, and across from them was the Pierce Siblings. Trevor was standing half in front of Rowan and glaring at the man who used to be his boyfriend.

Steve dropped the bags on their feet and then headed for the small huddle of WITSEC agents, ready to raise hell.

"What is he doing here?" Steve asked his glare set on Malcolm.

"Agent Garbo was pulled as a team expert," the head agent said. He took in Steve's glare and then added: "He's not team lead, I am. But the fact of the matter is no one else can manage Rowan… except for you and you're not coming."

So because he couldn't go with them, they got Malcolm? The man who had LEFT ROWAN FOR DEAD! He had only called a few hours ago, how had they gotten him there so quickly?

"How long as he been on the island?" Steve growled, because he had a feeling deep in his gut that the Malcolm had orchestrated this whole thing.

He just didn't have the proof, and it wouldn't do good to throw that sort of accusation at him without proof though. He'd sound nuts.

"He's only been here for less than twelve hours…"

"So he was here when she got shot," he said his fiery gaze never leaving Malcolm's stony face.

"I don't know what you're thinking…"

"I'm thinking that this man wasn't on this island for less than a day and Rowan got shot," he growled.

"Yes, under your care," Malcolm added.

Steve got into Malcolm's face right away. "If I find out you did this so you could get your boyfriend back in your custody… so help me…"

"Commander McGarrett!" the team lead shouted and only then did Steve step back. "I appreciate your concern, but again, I am in charge here, not Malcolm. He is here to help manage the siblings, whether or not we actually take his advice is up to us."

Steve shook his head. Fuck this wasn't good. Rowan was going to get tied up again.

He turned away from them and approached the two of them. As soon as he got close Rowan was shouldering her way out from behind Trevor to see him.

"It's really not that bad…" she tried to tell him but he shook his head.

"Seriously, if they all start doing what Malcolm says, I want you to call one of those postcard numbers and get yourself back to me. Hell, if you get to a Naval base and tell them you need to get to me, guaranteed one of the Brass will help you."

"Really?"

"Hell yeah," Steve cried. "I'll put the word out tonight… to look out for you… just in case…"

"That's really nice of you."

God how Steve wanted to kiss her. He wanted to crush her to his chest and keep her there. Tell them to take Trevor and go. He wanted to call the Governor and tell her that he was leaving. Tell Danny to move into his place and watch Eddie and Missy.

But he couldn't do that. So he cleared his throat instead and said: "As soon as you get a secure line, call me. Okay? So I know you're okay."

"I will."

"And you can call me… you know… any time you want. Even if it's just to say hi."

"I mean… sure. I don't want to bother you…"

"You're not a bother," he said and her smile widened. "I'll take lots of pictures of Missy to send you."

"That would be great…"

"Oh just kiss her already," Trevor snapped and the two of them jumped and turned to him. "Seriously, just get it over with please."

Steve glanced to her, god how he wanted to kiss her, and he could tell by the way her lips twitched that she wanted him to kiss her too.

So he moved in, slowly, just to give her the smallest of pecks, but he got close and she jumped at him. He wrapped her arms around her to hold her close and then kissed her with all the passion and emotion that had been clogging up his throat.

Oh god how he didn't want her to leave him.

But eventually they parted, and it was sweet sorrow just like Shakespeare said. He said good bye, helped her get her bags into the plane and that was it.

He stood there in that air hanger watching her plane take off. And with each mile it climbed into the sky his chest felt a little emptier. Like she was leaving with his heart. And maybe she was.

Steve had a feeling that he wouldn't see her for a very long time. And that was just heartbreaking. He couldn't even be mad at her for leaving, because unlike Catherine or his mother, he was the reason Rowan was gone.

He had no one to blame but himself.