One Thing

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hey there my wonderful readers! Are you ready to read a bunch of lies? Cause Rory's gonna be lying a lot in this chapter. There's also a lot of Rory's craziness so it should be a fun read. As always don't forget to leave a review or drop a fav or a follow and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 8

Rory had been too traumatized to go through everything that his dad had bought her that day. The boys were obviously quite disappointed, and though they said they understood, she had promised them a fashion show the following day. The problem was that Steve wasn't going to be able to see it.

Steve still had to find Robin Reeves.

He left Rory with his dad and then went straight back to work.

Was he worried about leaving Rory alone with her dad, yes. But now that he knew that she that the person she expected to save her from him was actively trying to kill her, he had a feeling she was going to be much more obedient.

From the update his dad had given him later in the morning once Ro had woken up, everything was going smoothly. She helped him make breakfast, she tried on the clothes he bought, she had wanted him to take pictures to show Steve but he didn't know how to do that. When he said he didn't have that kind of phone, she said that she'd do it all again when he came home.

Which definitely gave him a lot to look forward to.

But most importantly she hadn't tried to run once. In fact, since he had asked his dad for frequent updates, he had been getting calls, because his dad didn't text, about how she was doing every fifteen minutes to half hour. The last he heard from them, which was about an hour ago, was that they were fine.

So, he was very surprised when both his dad and Rory showed up at the Palace.

Granted they had brought food, but Steve and his team were getting ready to leave. They had a theory. Now that they knew that Robin hadn't been taken for the sex ring, though they had been paid for grabbing her, they knew that it was about something else. Their theory was that this was exactly what they thought it was. A kidnap and ransom. But now that they knew where the money transfer had come from, that this wasn't a straight ransom case. They didn't just want money.

These were terrorists that worked in the country the Ambassador was an ambassador too. They wanted him, not the money.

Steve just didn't know why just yet.

But he needed to get to them before the man went to the drop because he'd be walking into a trap. But the second Rory walked into that office he was distracted.

For starters she was wearing the clothes his dad had bought. Since she seemed to like wearing Steve's shirts he had bought her a woman's version of his shirt. His dad had learned that it was call The Boyfriend Shirt, hers was an army green button up that went down to her thighs. She was also in black leggings and burgundy converse. Her short brown hair had been straightened, but it clearly wasn't long enough to put back into a pony tail, so she had resorted to this fancy black hairband made of lace.

He wasn't sure why his dad had bought her that but it looked great on her.

"What happened, why are you here?" he asked.

"Brought you guys some malasadas," John said.

"And pancakes," Rory added and while that seemed sweet he knew, he just knew there was an ulterior motive for them coming here.

"I thought we agreed it would be safer for her to stay indoors," he said to his dad.

They both turned to Rory who was looking at the screen across from the computer almost thoughtfully taking in the pictures and evidence they had collected.

"Well… she told me a story today, son, and I think you should hear it," John said. Now that seemed to get her attention. She turned back to him and then winced under the weight of his stare.

"Do I have to? Can't you tell him?"

"Its your story, you tell him."

Rory groaned and began to wring her fingers, something Steve realized now was a nervous habit.

He immediately took a hold of her upper arm and dragged her back to his office where he shut the door behind them, put her in the seat across from his desk and then leant against his desk. He folded his arms over his chest and pinned her with his most authoritative glare.

"Start talking."

Rory had started to hyperventilate. "I… I don't know…"

He fought the urge to drop to his knees and pull her out of that chair and to his chest. Instead he took a deep breath and said softly: "Just tell me from the beginning, okay?

"Okay so I… I might have lied."

Right, well Rory lied about everything so that wasn't surprising at all. "About what?"

"About my brothers…"

Dear god she was going to tell them that she didn't have brothers. That she was the Master after all.

"They've kind of disowned me," she said, her lip trembling.

Oh. Okay. Well, that was a different kind of trouble then what Steve was expecting.

"What does that mean?"

"It means… it means like a month before I went to Bali…" "—You were in North Korea." "…God Steven, I know. The point is a month before I went there my brothers and I got in an argument about how they're so controlling and I said I wanted to get out from under them, but they said that they couldn't trust me to not get arrested again. And it came down to me leaving anyway and them saying that they won't come get me the next time I get caught, that I'd be on my own."

"But they did come to get you," Steve reminded her. "They sent Con to get you…"

Rory winced. "Well… see… that's the thing. They didn't," she said. "You see, Jackie and Con didn't know about the fight so they came to get me and then my brothers wouldn't pay them so Jackie… he uhm…. He kept me, to work for him… to pay off what he was owed. But… now… now that I don't have my brother's blanket immunity…."

Dear god, Wo Fat really could kill her. And he'd get away with it.

Rory had started crying, so Steve dropped down to his knees and pulled her out of that chair. For a moment he just held her tightly to him. "it's okay. You know? Cause I'm here and I'm going to protect you, okay? Okay?"

She nodded and he nodded with her.

"Right, now, I have to go somewhere and uh…. You know what, you're going to come with me."

"I am?"

"Yeah, if you really don't have your brother's support then Wo Fat can do whatever he wants to you and uh… it might be safer if you're with me. We'll figure out what we're going to do long term once I sort out this case. Okay?"

"Okay," she said heading for the door. "But I'm not putting on the Kevlar again."

"It would be safer…"

"It doesn't go with my outfit. So, it's not going on me."

Steve shook his head, he didn't have time to argue with her. He'd have to get it on her in the car.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Governor Jameson knew Rory.

He could tell because she practically jumped out of her skin when she showed up with Steve at the Ambassador's vacation home.

Steve didn't have time to ask how Governor Jameson knew this girl, or of this girl. Because they were missing Ambassador Reeves.

He had confronted the Ambassador's wife about the kidnapping, and how they hadn't been forthcoming with them about being contacted and he got her to talk.

Ambassador Reeves had gone to make the drop already with the K&R team that he had called in once he realized what had happened. Coincidentally the team that convinced them to not tell the cops what was going on.

He got their location from one of the other staff and then he and the team left to find them. He had to call Catherine for a favour, so they could find where the command post was. Then he had to cuff Rory to the inside of the Camaro being sure to ruffle her hair to make sure she didn't have a single bobby pin in her hair to use and he double checked his pockets twice to make sure she hadn't pickpocketed him before they went off in search of the people in charge.

They needed to find the daughter and the Ambassador before they went crashing in and ruining everything.

They knew now that Carlos Bagoyo was behind this. He was a member of the NLF and he clearly wanted the Ambassador for something. Steve still didn't know what yet.

He and Danny found the command post right where Catherine said it would be and the idiot Ellison who was in charge of this band of idiots. They had played this smart though. The Ambassador was wearing an ear piece and a wire, they had cameras of the drop area where they'd make the exchange, except Carlos Bagoyo came without Robin.

He came with a bunch of men with guns.

And while Steve was arguing with Ellison he failed to notice someone else come on screen. He didn't notice until she was talking. Then everyone was staring at that screen in surprise, though Steve was staring in horror.

"Oh hello! How very nice to see everyone!"

Steve froze. Oh God. Rory! Fucking Rory! How the hell did she get out of the car? But there she was standing behind the Ambassador, happily smiling at all the shocked faces.

Guns were pointed in her direction and Steve's heart practically stopped beating in his chest. She wasn't wearing the Kevlar.

Fuck he should have just taken her with him.

"Who are you?" Bagoyo asked.

"Uhm… I'm The Professional," she said like it was stupid question.

Bagoyo stared at her for a long while and then realization dawned on his face. He backed away gasping: "La Bruja!" and all of his men did the same.

That… that was a terrifying response to small little girl like her and she just looked annoyed at that.

"Okay why does everyone call me that? I am not La Bruja!" she cried and then she winced. "Okay, I am, but that's not my name. My name is the Professional, I want the girl and the money, pronto!"

"Give you… you're not in charge here…"

"Uh… well… how do you figure that?" she asked. "For starters, no one can work on this island without my brother's explicit approval…"

"Which we have."

Fucking say what now? Her brother controlled crime on Hawaii? Since fucking when?

"Clearly you don't otherwise I wouldn't be here," she said. "So. Girl. Money. Let's go. Chop chop."

Steve shook his head while Danny turned to him. "She's not in contact with her brothers, that's what you said. She literally just told you that they disowned her."

"She's gotta be bluffing," Steve whispered. "She's banking on them not knowing like Wo Fat and her Rabbit didn't. She's going to get herself killed."

Bagoyo pulled out a phone from his pocket. A panic briefly crossed Rory's face.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to ask your brother why he's renegading on my deal," he said.

Steve could see it clearly then. Real panic. Her bluff was about to be called. But she very stupidly did not back down.

"Fine… go a head… you call him…"

And as he did that she turned around and grabbed the briefcase full of money that the Ambassador had left on a table. Clearly the plan was to run the second her brothers failed to confirm them renegading on the deal. Like she was going to outrun bullets.

The phone clearly didn't ring long because Bagoyo quickly said: "Hello my friend…. No I don't have the coordinates yet. Your sister is here. She's saying that you've changed your mind."

He listened for a bit, nodding and mh-hmming before handing her the phone.

Rory took it with a wince and then said: "Hiiii," almost apologetically. "No I'm alright… I… no I don't need you! I'm handling this just fine thank you very much!... Well yes I do have guns pointed at me but… no I'm not wearing… because it doesn't go with my outfit!"

Well at least the whole Kevlar doesn't go with my outfit was a thing she did with everyone.

"Stop yelling at me," Rory whined. "I'm fine. So if I could please leave with the girl and the money… what? Oh yes, yes I did come with the cops. Five-0. Wait it does? No I didn't know I was arrested… he said I was in protective custody I assumed that wasn't the same thing… WITSEC? Oh no, not again."

She had been in WITSEC before?

"They want me to give info on Jackie," she said. "I know that's not his name. Yes I know I owe him money and I have it here. Yes I do have a plan, thank you very much, and my plans usually work out just fine… … … What did I say? Stop yelling at me! I am not stupid! You know I don't like being called stupid. You… you're being mean! You are! You're mean and controlling and… and… I don't know what that is? What is that?" She then turned to the ambassador: "What's an… an M-4?"

"It's uh… it's a type of machine gun…"

Rory looked far from impressed. "Uh-huh…"

"There's a shipment of them," Bagoyo said. "On route to Manila. He's going to tell us where it is and we're going to use those guns to take our country back."

"I don't have access to that sort of information," Reeves interjected.

"As ambassador you coordinate military aid with the state department, which means you have access to their classified server."

One of Bagoyo's men brought out a laptop and set it in front of him. They even opened it for him.

"Oh, classified server! I can help with that," Rory said. "Here talk to him. I want the girl and the money and maybe tell him that Five-0 is here... somewhere…"

Steve shook his head, dear god she fucking outted them. Whose side was she on? Clearly not his. Which sucked because he was the one who was fucking protecting her.

Ungrateful.

"She can't get a hold of that information," he said. "If she gives it to her brother we're fucked."

"Well, Steve, how do you plan on stopping her?" Danny asked.

"I'm going to move in, keep me updated on everything that's going on."

And then Steve was gone. Completely disregarding the fact that they had wanted to wait until they got a visual on Robin Reeves. But Rory was in trouble so Danny knew that Steve wasn't going to listen.

This had nothing to do with Rory giving up government secrets. Steve just wanted to save the girl he was obsessed with.

Danny pushed the man in the chair out of it so he could take it. He sat down in front of the monitor and then watched Bagoyo hand the phone back to Rory.

"Bring the girl, we're going to be handing her over," he said and then turned back to the Ambassador. "Once you get us the coordinates."

Rory took the phone from him but didn't put it to her ear. Instead she turned to the Ambassador. "See, daughter coming, thumbprint and password please."

He stared at her for a long while. "That's treason."

But Rory was just smiling at him, in fact she waved the whole treason thing away like it was nothing more than a parking ticket.

"No, it's not. You're not gonna search anything. I just need the password and thumbprint, both of which I can get… without you having a pulse."

Jesus. And Steve really thought this girl was as innocent as she was claiming to be?

Ambassador Reeves stared at her for a look while, he took in the men with guns, the smiling girl who was starting to get all sorts of creepy, and he sighed. Bringing the computer forward he typed in his computer, put his thumbprint in and then Rory shoved him out of his seat and sat down.

She took the phone that Bagoyo had given her and placed it on the keyboard and just stared at it.

"Kay Sandy, do your thing," she said. Danny couldn't see what was happening but he heard a very electronic voice say: "Device pairing, please wait."

What the hell did she do? What was she doing?

Device paired, ready for use.

She picked up the phone, rested it between her shoulder and her head, she cracked her knuckles and began to type.

"So, who are the guns really for? Cause he's talking about taking over a country," she said. "Mmm, I thought you were friends with their government… uh-huh… so they're for you… does he know that? Well he does now."

Rory was typing away at the computer her eyes glanced up to him and saw that Bagoyo had pulled a gun. God, where was Steve? This girl was going to get shot.

"Steve," Danny said into the com. "Bagoyo's literally about to shoot her."

"Kono and Chin have the daughter, I'm en route to her."

Rory however, didn't seem all that interested in the danger she was in. She eyed Bagoyo with disdain before turning her attention to the computer in front of him. "Yeah he's got a gun on me," she said. "Cool beans. Right, Sandy's got it, sending it to you. Yeah, I know… I'll take care of myself… No I don't need your help, I'm fine. I said I'm fine. Yes, I get it. On my own. Thank you for the reminder."

She typed a few things, pressed a button and then she was standing again.

"Okay, deal done. He gets the daughter, I get the money, he gets his guns, and you, if you're lucky you won't be shot."

"What are you talking about?" he snapped but Rory was just smiling at him.

"Steve, you better hurry," Danny said and then he paused. He squinted at the screen in front of him not sure he was seeing what he was seeing. But once he realized it, once he knew what was happening, he couldn't help but laugh. "Ah Steve… you're not gonna believe this."

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Danny was right. He didn't believe it.

Because Carlos Bagoyo was on his knees, his own men having turned on him, and bolted the second Steve showed up.

It left Bagoyo on his knees for Steve to arrest, Reeves reunited with his daughter and Rory standing there with a sheepish sort of smile and the briefcase of money in her hands.

Steve finished cuffing Bagoyo, kicked him down to the ground and stalked towards Rory who began to wince.

"Kay so I did you a solid, we're going to do me one," she said. "I got my money for Jackie and I'm free. I can go on my merry way."

"No," he said reaching out and taking hold of her arm stopping her from getting past him.

"Aw come on! You're going to get me killed, you realize that, right?" she cried.

"Are you sure? Cause your brother sure as hell helped you today."

"Yes, for a reason. I got him his coordinates. But this is the last time he's going to help me, Steven. I am officially on my own. If you keep me here, if you try to use me against Jackie, who knows my brothers aren't protecting me, you're handing me a death sentence."

"No, I'm not," he said. "Cause I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Do you understand?"

"No! Cause you don't get it. That man shot me last night. While I was under your protection, by the way. And my brother knew about it. And Jackie's still alive," she cried. "You're cute, McGarrett, and you're fun to make out with and mess around with but none of that is worth dying for."

He should have felt bad. Because she was right. She had gotten shot last night because of him which did not look good on him. But he was stuck on one thing.

She thought he was cute.

Steve glared at her and her lip began to quivered.

"Look, maybe… maybe if I give him his money, he won't be angry. And if he's not angry, he'll let me live and I can go home," she said as the tears began to fall again. My god he couldn't handle her tears. "I just really, really want to go home. Please let me go home."

Steve sighed and put a hand to her shoulder. "The only way you're going to be safe from that man is if you help me put him away. But until then, I'm going to protect you. Okay?" Rory glared at him through her tears and he cocked his debonair grin he was known for. "So now, give me the money, and let's go."

Rory huffed but eventually gave up the money and let him hand it off to Kono who was just smiling at the two of them.

"Fine, but when I die, I'm going to haunt you. I'm going to make you feel guilty for the rest of your life."

Steve just shook his head and put an arm around her shoulder and tucked her in close to his side. She immediately snuggled into his side, one of her hands resting on his chest, right above his heart.

And something in his chest lit up. God he hoped she couldn't feel the way his heart was beating out of control.

And for a moment there it felt like there wasn't anything in the world that could take this feeling away from him.

But when they got back to the palace Steve found out that it wasn't Wo Fat's prints on the toolbox, but instead Hiro Noshimuri's. It was be the evidence he needed to arrest the man in connection to his dad's attack and with the proof came the Governor's seal of approval to arrest her so-called dear friend.

He and his dad would go down to arrest him together. Or well, Steve would arrest him and John would be there hitting him with snarky one liners and basically gloating. It wouldn't be until he got Hiro into the Camaro that his dad would remind him that they didn't have the proof to get his brother Koji on being the one to set the bomb that killed his mother, but that wouldn't matter.

Six hours after Hiro was arrested, Koji would be found dead. He would very ironically have been in a car accident.

And when the McGarretts got that information, Rory just laughed.

And she wouldn't tell them what was funny.