The Professional

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Well hello my wonderful readers! Guess what? We have one chapter left. Just one. And then we're done. (I mean I still have to write it, if it's too long I might have to split it in two, we'll see when i finally get around to writing it) So I hope you enjoy this chapter, this cute, little, Steve-protecting-Rowan type chapter and hopefully I'll see you next week!

Chapter 22

Six hours later Steve was landing in Victoria.

For some reason, and he had some theories about what that might be, Catherine had followed him. She said it was for moral support, but Steve had told her multiple times that he would rather have Danny or no one at all, but she still went with him.

That was annoying.

Because if Rowan's problem was that she saw him getting kissed by Catherine, showing up with her wasn't going to make that better.

They got off the plane and Steve was making a bee-line for the door with Catherine following him.

"So I think we should get a hotel…"

"Yeah, you go do that…" Steve said absently.

"Where are you going?"

"To Rowan's obviously."

Catherine grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. "Hold on a second, she literally landed only a few hours before us. She's probably getting settled at home."

Yeah with a mother who didn't care that she was injured and was only worried about Trevor. Steve needed to be there, he needed to run interference.

And he needed to tell Rowan he loved her.

He'd do it in front of Catherine but he had a feeling she wouldn't like that. And it would make Rowan uncomfortable too.

"I don't care," Steve told her.

"Alright, then I'll…"

"No," Steve snapped cutting her off before she could invite herself along. "I've got to do this by myself."

Then he left, his duffle bag over his shoulder, rushing off for a cab, hoping to get in one before Catherine could catch up.

Danny had been kind enough to get her home address in Victoria for him, and that was where he told the cabbie to go.

He got to the house and though he should have been nervous, he didn't give himself the time to feel it. He was doing his combat breathing as he hopped those steps to the front door and then he knocked, almost incessantly until someone answered the door.

The man in front of him was clearly her father. He looked to be in his fifties, late fifties. He was tall, about the same height as Steve, but he was all wiry and sweater vests. His grown hair had streaks of silver, there was a patchy beard hugging his jaw line and a pair of box-frame glasses on his face.

And he had Rowan's piercing blue eyes.

He was staring at Steve with wide eyes of surprise. He then pointed at him.

"Aren't you the army boy who was at the trial?"

"Navy," Steve corrected. "Uh… Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett. I was uh, also your kids' handler for a little while when they were in Hawaii. I'm uh… I'm here…"

"Trenton who's at the door?" a woman called from inside the house and Trenton turned right away.

"It's that Army boy, the one we saw on TV."

"Navy," Steve corrected but he was ignored.

"The one with Wick?"

Rowan had mentioned her mom called her Wick, or Wicky. He was so used to Ro that hearing anything else was odd to him.

But he stood there waiting and sure enough there was the other Dr. Pierce in the family.

Roselyn Pierce looked more like Rowan then her dad. She had plain brown eyes, but Rowan's dark brown hair clearly came from her. She had Rowan's ovaline face, she had her eye shape, and her figure. Rowan's was just younger and perkier.

And this Pierce liked pencil skirts and blazers. Today's combo was a pale pink with a cream blouse.

"Well what is he doing here?" she asked, the question not directed at him at all.

"I don't know dear, you interrupted before he could tell me."

Roselyn turned to Steve. "Well what are you here for?"

"To see Rowan. I'm here to see Rowan."

"Weren't you just with her?" Roselyn asked. "If you had something important to say to her, why didn't you do it at the airport? Why didn't you call her? Is controlling your impulses something you've always suffered with McGarrett? That is the main sign of substance abuse…"

"Mom!"

At that Steve perked up, because he recognized that voice immediately. He smiled warmly as the two Pierces stepped away to reveal Rowan behind them.

She wasn't in a wheelchair, she didn't have her crutches, she was just standing there on her bad leg and everything smiling back at him.

"Hey Ro."

"Hi Steve."

And then he crossed the threshold and wrapped her up in his arms where she belonged.

"Well… I guess he's staying for dinner," Trenton said and then with a deft click, the door shut.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

It was clear that him showing up there was more than just a surprise. There was an awkward air around the whole family as they kept glancing at both Steve and then to Rowan.

He had sort of introduced himself, they knew bare minimum about him, other then he was in the Navy, he was their handler, and both Rowan and Trevor were happy to see him. Rowan more happy then Trevor of course.

He had tried to get her alone to talk, to explain why he was there, but the family wouldn't let him.

"So Rowan… when we said you needed to pick a different type, we didn't mean the same man with a different job," her mother said and beside him Rowan groaned, her fork dropping to her plate.

Due to the shoulder which was still healing, Steve had had to cut her food up for her as her parents hadn't realized she would need the help.

"Mom…"

"Rowan he's clearly another Commander Type with a possessive streak. We already know he's violent because he's done moderately well in the Navy…"

"Moderate?" Steve echoed cutting off her mother's tirade against his character.

Honestly it was like she and Danny were exchanging notes. Had he called ahead to warn them about him? Because if he had that was a dick move and he was going to get him back for it when he got back to Hawaii.

Roselyn Pierce turned her cool brown eyes onto him and Steve defiantly held her gaze, daring her to insult him to his face.

"You're only a Lieutenant Commander, why haven't you continued your ascent up the ranks?"

Well… she definitely had no problem insulting him to his face. He could see where Rowan got her ice-queen personality. He had been assuming it was Wo Fat, but he knew better now. Clearly her mother gave her the foundations and Wo Fat had just helped her perfect it.

Steve frowned at her but Rowan merely sighed. "He's the Team lead of a special task force in Hawaii. It's a really big deal. That's why."

Roselyn Pierce's eyes narrowed in on Steve as she said: "I see."

"Dear, stop psychoanalyzing the poor boy, he's only been here for an hour."

She rolled her eyes like Trenton was spoiling her fun and Steve quietly reached under the table to drop his hand on Rowan's knee. It wasn't a move, he was simply showing her comfort. And when she smiled at him he knew she got it.

"Well, given her track record, I have the right to worry."

"Well, you don't have to," Steve said. "My psychiatrist has informed me that I'm a Guardian type, I'm not possessive, I'm loyal. I see the good in people."

"The good? In Rowan?" her mother scoffed and just like that everyone at the table went quiet. Trenton was finally showing some kind of negative emotion, just like Trevor he was frowning.

"Mom," Trevor warned but she didn't listen.

"Rowan may be a lot of things, but good isn't one of them," her mother said. "You must not know about her past. She's awfully good at hiding it."

"No, I know about her past. I know about the expulsions from school, and the rally racing, and the sociopathic tendencies. I know, when she was with me, and for this trial that she covered for Trevor, so I'm probably right in guessing that she's been doing that all her life."

He held her mother's gaze and saw it there in her eyes. The anger, the unwillingness to believe that Rowan was not the problem here.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Rowan has always been a good liar…"

"Mom, just stop," Trevor suddenly snapped. She turned to him surprised. "He's right. Ro has always covered for me. All the time. She's been doing it since we were kids. And I let her do it cause I was so afraid of disappointing you, and she wasn't. But he's right."

"None of this would have happened if she…"

"If I hadn't been gambling," Trevor interrupted. "I was the one who borrowed money from a man I knew was in the Russian mob. I was the one who went to Rowan to get a loan, and then I got her into the rally racing when she didn't have any more money to give me, and then convinced her to do the heists. Me. It was me. And while she was working her ass off to pay off my debts so they wouldn't break my legs, I continued gambling and losing, and borrowing and gambling…"

His mother was staring at him, clearly her world crashing down around her.

"If Rowan hadn't've helped me, I'd be dead. She didn't have to do that. But she did."

"Of course I had to help you," Rowan said. "She never would have let me forget it if I let something happen to you. Her precious little baby boy can do no wrong, even when he's admitting it, right mom?"

Roselyn turned those wide watering eyes onto her daughter.

"Go ahead mom. Why don't you find a way to turn into to my fault? I mean that's what we do as a family right? Trevor's the angel, dad's never here, I'm the devil, and you make sure everyone knows about it."

She suddenly lurched to her feet, and Steve followed her, only to help her steady herself.

"I'm going to bed, feel free to tell Steven all the horrible stories of my past, or about all the books you wrote and some millions of copies of all about having a monster for a daughter how much of a saint you were to put up with me," she said, ripping his arm out of his grasp and then hobbling off.

Steve watched her go, sensing that she wanted to be alone, but his eyes never left her. If she fell he was going to her, whether she wanted him or not.

"Good job mom," Trevor snapped.

Roselyn gasped and turned to Trenton who merely frowned at her. "She's been home less than a day and you've already managed to go back to the way things were."

"It's not my fault! It's his. He didn't have to…"

"Nope," Steve said turning around right away. "No we're not blaming me. You clearly have a favourite, you might as well own it. She's known it her whole life, everyone who's ever met you people has known it. If a deranged psychopath knew it and sought to protect her from it I should have known it was bad, don't know why I didn't believe it myself."

"Psychopath?"

"He means Wo Fat, he's the one who got him in the end."

"Oh, you mean that criminal that refused to lend her money…"

"Me, mom, he refused to lend me money," Trevor said. "Seriously. Rowan doesn't gamble unless she knows she's going to win. Get it through your head. This was all me!"

Roselyn just huffed and then turned a glare at Steven. "It's time you left."

Steve shook his head. "I'm not leaving Rowan alone with you." He then picked up his empty plate and Rowan's half-finished one. "I'll put mine in the sink and I don't mind washing up since you guys cooked. But first, I'm going to see if I can get her to finish eating. Just leave the plates in the sink, I'll deal with them later."

And then just like that he whirled around and walked away.

He left them to argue, which they did, to go see Rowan who had shut herself in her room to cry. He had entered, the room oddly juvenile. It had pink walls and was covered in trophies and posters and what seemed to be art work of sorts. Her comforter had little mermaid on it, her bed covered in stuffed animals, but he didn't care.

He shut the door, got into that bed with her. First just keeping his distance until she rolled over and latched onto him. Then he held her as she cried and did his best to soothe her until she fell asleep.

When he finally went down to do the dishes as asked he was informed, by Trenton, as Roselyn didn't want to see him, that he'd be sleeping on the couch.

And that was perfectly fine with him.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve had lain awake in the Pierce's living room for most of the night thinking about what he was going to do.

He couldn't leave Rowan here, that was clear enough. Her mother was antagonizing, and delusional, as soon as Steve left she'd be all over Rowan, doing all that she could to undermine her and make her out to be the monster.

And Rowan would believe her because she was conditioned to do so.

It was no wonder she had turned out the way she had. With a mother like hers, and a brother willing to throw her under the bus at a moment's notice to save his own skin.

Really, the fact that Wo Fat knew about this and found it wrong should have been a red flag. He was a psychopath with no human emotions and he had seen Rowan's situation and tried to save her from it. That alone should have been the tip off right there.

Steve just hadn't want to think it was that bad. He had wanted only good things for her, but it just meant that he wasn't really prepared to see it in action. And tonight probably hadn't even been that bad. It would only get worse after he left, he knew it.

He had to find a way to get her out of this place. He figured telling her his feelings would help. He'd tell her he loved her, that he wanted her to come back to Hawaii with him, and if she felt the same way she'd come.

Maybe he could convince her to come even if she didn't feel the same way.

He just had to get her out from under her mother's negative influence.

But the more he thought about it, the more one thought kept coming to his mind.

It was odd that it had just come to him, but lying there in the dark on that uncomfortable couch, all he could think about was proposing to her. It was the perfect way to get her away from her parents, the perfect reason to keep them from arguing with her about leaving.

And he wanted to.

The more he thought about it the more he wanted to propose her. He wanted to marry her. She was his forever, he had known it the second he first met her, it had just taken all of this for him to figure it out.

He'd have to buy a ring. He could do that today right?

Maybe, because he didn't want to leave her alone with her parents, but he also didn't want to bring her along and make her pick her own ring. He wanted it to be a surprise, but he might have to do that because he didn't know what kind of ring she'd want.

He had eventually fallen asleep and was woken up in the morning when they started moving about the house. Her dad had come down early in the morning, made coffee and then went into the garage which must have been his lab, because there were three cars parked out on the driveway.

Her mom came down almost an hour later noisily went about making breakfast, probably spitefully. Steve figured he'd just wake up at that point.

He watched her fix up four plates, one of which she put in the oven to keep warm. Two plates for her and Trenton, one plate for him and clearly one for Trevor.

Steve didn't even say anything, he simply made up one more plate himself, of all of Rowan's favourites, and then too put it in the oven.

Her mother had watched him do it, her eyes wide in surprise as if no one had ever called her out on this before. But really, she was willing to make food for Trevor and set it aside for him, but she couldn't do it for Rowan?

Rowan with the broken arm who wouldn't be able to make food for herself. Well she probably could but it would be difficult.

They ate breakfast in silence, probably because Roselyn didn't want to talk and have Steve call her out, and then the doorbell rang.

Trenton called out from the garage for someone to go and answer it, and Roselyn did with a roll of her eyes. Clearly Rowan's one-track mind came from her father.

Steve figured it to be a delivery or someone to see the Pierces, so he was very surprised to see Catherine ushered into the kitchen.

"Your girlfriend is here to see you," Roselyn said a sort of smirk on her face that Steve didn't like.

"She's not my girlfriend," he snapped as he moved towards her. He grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the living room where he had slept. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I wanted to see you…"

"Why Catherine? Why? You know I'm here to see Rowan, why would you come here?"

Catherine put a hand out to him, resting juts above his heart. "For moral support…"

"I don't need my ex to hold my hand through telling another girl I love her," Steve snapped and suddenly shock was painting Catherine's face.

In that moment he realized that Catherine was under the impression that he was going to be breaking up with Rowan, or something similarly negative along those lines. Why the hell would she think that though?

Fucking hell was that why she had followed him there? To pick up the pieces after the break up? How had she gotten that confused?

Trevor chose that moment to come down the stairs in nothing but a pair of dark grey roots sweatpants. He used to do this when he was at Steve's place too. Probably because Steve was always walking around shirtless.

The difference was it was Steve's house and Rowan liked it when she could see his chest. Trevor was just doing it to be annoying.

"Who's this?"

"It's his girlfriend," Roselyn called from the kitchen and Trevor was frowning at him.

"Girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my ex," Steve clarified. "And she was leaving…"

"I was actually hoping to stay…"

"Of course," Roselyn said, reaching a hand out to Catherine to pull her into the kitchen

Oh this was not good.

He knew what she was doing, and honestly it was diabolical. The woman was literally looking for any way to make Steve out to be the bad guy. She was going to use Catherine to hurt Rowan, he just knew it.

He just had to catch her before she came down, tell her that Catherine had come of her own volition and to not worry he'd get rid of her.

Trenton came out of the garage and walked into the kitchen. He glanced over to where Roselyn and Catherine were deep in conversation out on the back patio. If he was confused he didn't show it.

"Who's that?"

"Steve's girlfriend," Trevor said. "I'mma eat in my room, okay?"

"Sure thing son," Trenton said and then turned to Steve. "So you have a girlfriend huh?"

"She's my ex!" Steve near cried and then man just nodded. He was clearly there to refill his coffee mug, which meant Steve only had a brief amount of time to ask what he wanted to ask him.

And actually, with Catherine here, she'd distract Roselyn for him. He figured, if she knew what Steve was planning, she'd either ruin it on purpose or find a reason to dissuade Rowan from joining him. Of saying yes.

Steve approached him carefully, hoping Roselyn didn't notice and then nudged the man as he was re-filling his mug. "Actually… I was wondering if I could talk to you…"

But then the door opened. Someone had unlocked it and slammed it behind them.

"Alright, Pierces, I gave you twenty-four hours, I want one-on-one time with my best friend and you're not stopping me. Now where is she?"

Beside him Trenton sighed and in the living room Roselyn audibly groaned.

"She's sleeping," Trenton said and the woman moved for the stairs. Steve almost chased after her, to stop her from waking Rowan who so desperately needed to sleep but he didn't have to.

Suddenly the woman was back on the main floor, darkening the kitchen doorway. She looked Steve up and down with wild, wide green eyes and he did the same to her.

She was in what Rowan had described to him as mom jeans. Baggy, faded and high-waisted. She was in a navy blue crop top sweater revealing a pierced naval and her blonde hair was in a side braid.

"Who the hell is this?" the blonde asked, moving towards him. "You're not… you're not the SEAL are you?

Steve nodded. "Uh… Yes. I'm a SEAL. My name is Steven. It's nice to meet you…"

"I'm Sarah, her sister from another mister," she said offering him a hand to shake. As soon as he took it, she gripped him tight and pulled him in, that cordial smile fading from her lips. "What are your intentions with Rowan?"

"Uhm… actually… I uh… I wanted to talk to her dad about that…"

"Well you're talking to me," she snapped. "And let's be honest here, guys like you, the way-too-pretty type, with washboard abs and all these muscles… wow you're really well put together aren't you?"

She was feeling up his arms now and for a second Steve was sure she was hitting on him, but then she cleared her throat and turned that glare back up to him. Oh there was more she was going to say, and she might have if someone hadn't interrupted her.

"Hey Steven," Catherine called and Steve turned. "I'm just going with Dr. Pierce to see… oh what's going on here?"

Sarah's wild green eyes turned onto her and Catherine almost faltered, but she still came into the kitchen, poured herself her own coffee and then asked: "Are you good?"

"Yes I'm fine. When are you leaving?"

"You sure you want me to leave?" Catherine asked with a suggestively raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Steve near growled because honestly, nothing was going right, right now, and he hated it when his plans fell apart. He just wanted one plan where he didn't have to improvise. But apparently the ability to derail plans was a family character trait.

"Alright, well Dr. Pierce wants to show me her roses and her rowan bushes so I'll be outside if you need me."

She wasn't needed and she knew that. She knew that Steve had been trying to get her, but she seemed to have decided that she too wanted to be the monkey wrench in his plans to woo Rowan. Seriously, when did Catherine get so petty?

How had he ever loved her?

Well, he hadn't met Rowan yet, so that was why that lasted as long as it did.

"Who was that?"

"His girlfriend," Trenton said which earned him a shocked but angry look from Sarah and that time he groaned audible.

"She is my ex. My ex!" he cried.

"Not sure she knows that, son," Trenton said before taking a sip of his own coffee, clearly enjoying this greatly.

"Uh-huh… Yeah you're going to need to leave."

"What? Why?"

"Because guys like you break girls like us. And my sister has gone through enough, thank you. So let's get you out of here before I go to wake her up."

"No… hold on a second. Guys like me? You don't even know me!" Steve cried, refusing to be moved. Nor would he be chased out of here by this girl. If Roselyn Pierce couldn't get rid of him Best-Friend-Sarah would not.

"I don't need to know you. I know you're type. Guys like you, who look like walking Holister ads, aren't all that interested in girls like us, and you came here with a woman more in your league and is apparently your ex but I'm not sure how much I believe that…"

Sarah had tried tugging on his arms to move him and when that didn't work she got behind him and tried shoving at his shoulders. That too didn't move him. Steve had set himself and nothing short of a linebacker's tackle was going to get him out of that kitchen.

This had to stop. They had to know he was serious about this. So he cut off her tirade on his character, that was very similar to the one that Rowan's mother had given him, with an "I love her."

Sarah came to a stop and then stepped out in front of him again. "Who? Your ex?"

Steve grimaced in disgust at the thought. "No," he said right away. "No, Ro. It's Ro, I love Ro. Obviously…"

"Right… and you expect me to just… believe you?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. Steve was honestly surprised, didn't he sound genuine? "Cause… I mean… if you're saying you're not one of those Holister guys, it sounds like you might be the white knight type, instead. Or maybe both..."

God, she had more?

"White Knight?" he echoed.

It wasn't the first time someone had referred to him as that. In fact Rowan had called him that once or twice.

"Yeah. You know. The kind of guy who rescues girls in trouble," she explained. And he nodded. Ah, yes that made more sense. "And I mean, I know my best friend, and she gets in trouble a lot but like… is that going to be enough to keep this relationship going?"

"Well I mean… that's not the only reason why I like her…"

"I thought you said you love her."

"No, I do… I… I mean… I don't know what you want me…."

"I want you to prove your feelings…"

"Okay, well for starters, I came all the way here to tell her how I feel in person. I stayed in Toronto after I rescued her, if I was really only about that rescue, wouldn't I have left after she was safe?"

"I guess that's true…"

"Wo Fat's my nemesis, you know? Did you know that?"

"Who?"

"Wo Fat."

"He means Tony," Trenton said and Steve frowned.

"Anthony Shu? You knew him?"

"I killed him."

Sarah's eyes widened. "Oh my god! Does she…. Does she know that?"

"She does. And I know that she was a person he cared very greatly about. Now, that man was literally my nemesis, he killed my dad, my friends and tortured me a bunch of times. And I still love her. Okay? Do you know what that means?"

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow. So there, does that prove my feelings?"

"Yes it does. Though I should probably ask her how okay she is with the fact that you killed her best, criminal buddy." Steve sighed but Sarah just continued. "I mean I doubt that she's that surprise the man was a Bond Villain, and apparently horrible to you…"

"Okay, well I'm glad you see it now… because that's why I'm here, I wanted to talk to Trenton about… you know getting his permission to…"

"Permission? Firstly, her dad don't own her and secondly, you should be asking me…"

"What?" Steve cried not quite following where this was going. "I don't… traditionally I'm supposed to ask…"

"That's stupid. What kind of misogynistic bullshit is that?"

"I'm trying to be respectfu…."

"And if you were interested in marrying here, why did you come here with your ex?"

"I didn't, she just…"

"And what is the plan here? You gonna move my sister to Hawaii? Cause I am not going to take that lying down…"

"Well my job and life is in Hawaii and…"

"Though, if I could move to Hawaii too. It is beautiful there and I could keep an eye on this relationship…"

Steve realized then that she wasn't actually having this conversation with him. He turned his eyes to Trenton who was sipping on his beer looking heavily amused.

"You get used to it," he said. "Why don't you just ask me what you wanna ask me and hopefully by then she'll be done."

"Okay, look, it's less than ideal, but I was telling the truth when I said I love your daughter. I want to marry her, and at the rate disasters hit her, I just… I want to propose now and if she says yes we'll have a long engagement or something, I just know that I can't chance something else happening to her so I just want to propose now and… maybe that's stupid but…"

"Sarah was right, you don't need to ask my permission. Rowan will make that choice all of herself. But if you want to ask, go for it. Ro's all about those impetuous decisions she'll probably say yes."

Steve half chuckled at that. Yeah wild, not-thought-out decisions were Rowan's specialty.

"Okay, you know what, Hawaii sounds like fun and I'm totally down to move there. Plus you're hot enough for my sister and I'm sure you can set me up with a hot cop or something. So sure, you can propose to her. I'll even help you pick a ring."

"Oh… uh thank you but I… uh… I don't need help…"

"So you know what stone Rowan would want over a diamond?" She asked and Steve faltered. Diamonds were traditional, he assumed that Rowan would want one. But then again rowan had never been traditional. Why would her taste in engagement rings be traditional?

Sarah smirked at Steve's lost look. "Yeah, see. You need my help," she said quite smugly. She then clapped her hands. "Right, I'mma wake our girl up. You decide when you wanna go ring shopping and we'll go. Okay?"

And then just like that she was walking away, leaving Steve feeling breathless and alittle bit like he had just been through a natural disaster.

Steve turned a pained look to Trenton, but the man just shrugged.

"Best not to argue, son," he said he too moving to leave the kitchen.

Steve nodded. Yeah he was starting to realize that.