Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Well happy Wednesday my readers! How is everyone doing this week! I see that we're liking the fact that I've managed to update every week for a little while now. Trying not to jinx myself but NaNoWriMo is really helping me keep on track! Anyway, now that all the crazy stuff is out of the way, we're gonna get to the heartfelt stuff. I hope this chapter makes you go d'awwww! Don't forget to leave a review, or a fav or a follow and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 426

Later that evening, after everything with Oliver was wrapped up, Steve joined his whole team and seemingly everyone else in his life at Kamekona's shrimp truck.

That included Nahele, both his brothers-in-law, Grover, Tani, Junior, Danny and, of course, Rowan. They were all there to hear what Chloe had to say after sitting in on a day-in-the-life with Steve.

Steve was already very annoyed. They had turned this whole thing into a spectacle and he was not amused. How could he be? They had sprung an intervention on him and now the results of this intervention were going to be broadcasted like football scores on the nightly news.

This was absolutely and utterly ridiculous.

But he was getting food out of it. Rowan had agreed to pay for his meal and his drinks to make up for that morning and what he would endure at this dinner. So, he wasn't as annoyed as he was acting.

Okay, not true, he was that annoyed, he was just trying to not show it. And failing miserably.

"Do all these people have to be here for this?" he asked.

"Oh hell, yeah," Grover said right away. "See a professional trying to tell McGarrett wat to do? Hell, that's a dinner and a show, I should've brought my wife."

At that everyone began to laugh and Steve faked laugh along with them. At the mention of wives, though, Steve put an arm around his and then reached out to swat at Nahele's shoulder, as he was sitting on the other side of her, before shooting them both a smile.

Danny, however, was not laughing. He was practically morose, had been since Chloe had told him he was part of the problem. He was just grateful that Rowan hadn't had a similar reaction. He'd've been much more upset if she had the same reaction. He'd've really let Chloe had it if that had happened.

"You know what? Everyone, if you're gonna be here, you got to zip it. Please. Let's hear what Chloe has to say. Your evaluation, please," Danny said.

Chloe took a deep breath before starting. "Well, Commander, what I want to tell you to do is quit your job and take up gardening."

"Not gonna happen," Rowan said right away and Chloe smiled in her direction.

"Yes, I spent all day with you and she's right, that's not going to happen," Chloe agreed and Steve was sure to tug his wife a little closer into his side. Loving that she snuggled right up into him. "That being said, I think there are a few ways you can manage your stress better. Yeah. Uhm, for starters, I looked at the calendar in your work computer. Maybe you wanna consider using it or create a to-do list. Staying organized, it's crucial to avoiding stress."

Steve took that all in stride. He wasn't going to do it, but he murmured a thank you to her and then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement. He turned and found Junior hastily writing something down in a notebook Steve hadn't realized the boy had.

What the fuck was he doing?

"Excuse me. What are you doing, taking notes?"

"Uh, yes, sir," Junior said, avoiding his eyes.

Steve shook his head at him. Dear god. This kids was going to kill him. He should have listened to Rowan and got him an apartment instead of letting him stay on the couch.

They were distracted, again, by Kamekona putting a salad in front of Chloe. Everyone stared at it confused as she thanked him for it.

Grover was the first to say something about it, though. "What the hell is that? I didn't know you had anything green on that truck! What is this, a secret menu item or something?"

Kamekona had taken a seat at the head of the picnic table they were all squashed into. He was opposite of Chloe who was at the other head. He just shrugged. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But you need to learn how to ask the right questions, OG"

They all sort of giggled but in that laughter Danny very seriously asked: "Can I have a chili dog?"

Kamekona frowned. "No."

Chloe was ready to move on, though. "Anyway, there are a few other things. You'll have my full written report tomorrow. I'm going to add a personalized daily plan. It will include stress reducing techniques, holistic modalities, dietary guidelines."

"You're better off sending that to me," Rowan said reaching for yet another shrimp on Steve's plate.

"Ro, stop, stop, stop eating my dinner," Steve said. "I've hit my quotient of sharing, you have a Rowan Special right there…"

"But it doesn't taste good," Rowan whined. "Can we switch?"

"Baby I don't want to switch, I want shrimp."

Rowan hit him with a bit of a pout but before Steve could relent, Wo Fat reached over his nephew and took her plate away before reaching back and dropping his own plate in front of her. He, however, did not take her plate for himself, he just handed it to Con. Con, who had literally inhaled two different shrimp meals, and happily took on Rowan's left over dinner that she had literally only taken two bites out of.

"I'm finished anyway," he said as she beamed at him before tucking in. "Though I thought you didn't like seafood."

"Yeah, it's a new development," Con said between mouthfuls of the Rowan Special he had been handed. That earned Rowan a narrowed look from her eldest brother, he seemed to be appraising her carefully as if that answer meant something specific to him.

Chloe put a hand out to Steve to gain his attention back. "Speaking of, you might wanna just cut back on the shrimp."

"I'm gonna have to fact check you there, sista. Studies show that a three-week shrimp diet has an overall positive effect on cholesterol because it raises HDL, or good cholesterol level by 13 percent. And there should be nothing wrong with your Rowan Special I made it just the way you like it."

Rowan, who was busy eating what was left of Wo Fat's Shrimp special paused. "I unno what to tell you but it tasted funny."

All eyes swung to Con who was currently eating what was left of her dinner. "Tastes fine to me."

Kamekona shook his head. "There's something wrong with you."

Yes Steve had to concur. He was really starting to get worried about her being sick. He really needed to talk to Wo Fat about convincing her to see a doctor. He figured she might listen to him more than she was listening to Steve.

"While I do agree there are some health benefits to a seafood diet, but then you sprinkle it with salt, douse it in butter and deep-fry it, so…"

Kamekona glared at her for a moment and then pointed out and away: "Out. You're banned for life."

"Don't listen to him," Nahele said. "If you bring money he'll serve you."

"You," he said to Nahele. "Fired."

But Nahele wasn't listening to him either. He just smiled at him.

"Alright, chill there, big fella," Grover said.

"Don't worry about it, he can't fire our kid. I doubt Wo will let him," Steve said as he stood up, noting that the man already has a glare pinned on Kamekona as if attempting to decide if that mad had been serious about firing his nephew right in front of him. Yeah, Steve was going to let Rowan deal with that one. "Listen, I'm gonna get a round of drinks for everybody. Danny, give me a hand, please."

Steve stepped over the picnic bench and was sure to press a kiss to his wife's cheek before walking away and towards the truck with Danny following.

"Alright, please tell me I'm not alone in how I feel about this. This whole thing is just ridiculous. Are you kidding me? Diet plans, a treadmill desk, the self-regulating de-stress modulator, whatever she said, you having to self-censor? Please."

"So you're not gonna take any of her advice?"

"No! Cause it's silly!"

"That's good. It's a waste of Ro's money, a waste of Chloe's time."

Steve sighed. God, why was Danny making this that hard. "Let me ask you a question. What's with the micromanaging of my health all of a sudden? What's going on?"

"Okay. Because I'm scared that you're not taking this seriously," Danny admitted.

"Why would you say that?"

"When you told me that you had radiation poisoning, you were very casual. It was like you were telling me you had eczema or something like that. I know Ro said that that wasn't the case, but I don't see what she sees, and she doesn't see what I see. She doesn't see what you're like at work. It's the same thing with the liver. I give you my liver, you don't follow any of the post-op instructions, you don't take nothing seriously."

Steve fought the urge to snap at him, but he did say: "You're exaggerating."

"I'm not over-exaggerating," Danny cried. "I'm genuinely scared for your health. I lay up at night. I'm sick about it. I can't sleep. I almost called that therapist to try and get another session."

Steve was really thrown by that, he honestly had no idea that Danny was feeling this kind of way over Steve's health. He actually felt bad, how had he missed that?

"Why wouldn't you say something to me?"

"What am I gonna say to you? That I'm stressed about the fact that you are not taking this thing seriously about your own health? I'm not gonna put that on you."

"So you put it on my wife?"

Danny sighed at that. "I didn't put it on her, I asked if she was stressed too and when she said she was, we commiserated," he said. "That's it. And… you know, if she's not pregnant, then maybe it's the stress of worrying about you…"

Steve wouldn't even let him finish that sentence because it was a horrible thing for Danny to accuse him of. "You think I'm making my wife sick?"

"No," Danny said right away. "But it's like you said to Chloe, right? You love Ro, you love her so you're always going to worry about her, that's always going to be a source of stress in your life. Well. Ro loves you. So it's the same thing. She loves you so she's always going to worry about you. And you're adding onto the job stress now with just general health stress."

Steve nodded that was true. She loved him, she loved him so she had put this together to try and even out the odds without her pulling from him like she promised. He was lucky to have so many people in his life loving him.

"It was my own thing, Steve I didn't want to put that on you. I didn't know what to say to you."

Steve thought about it a moment before he sighed. "I'm scared too," he finally admitted.

He hadn't told Rowan that, he hadn't told Danny, he hadn't told anyone, but the fact of the matter was that he was scared.

"I know I don't show it, but deep down I'm scared. You think I don't wanna live a long life? You think I don't want to have kids with Rowan one day, watch Nahele grow up, get married? I love your kids. Alright. Charlie, Gracie, I wanna watch them grow up too. I wanna see Joanie grow up. But she said it's unavoidable now, Danny. Cancer is guaranteed in my future. That… that is terrifying." Danny nodded and Steve took a deep breath before moving forward. "I tell you what I'm not gonna do. I'm not gonna obsess over this now, not when I know it's this far off. I want to live this life to the fullest, use all this time I have left to make it worthwhile, you know. So you can't let this get to you, okay. I'm serious about this. And there's one other thing. Please, whatever she said to you, don't do that. Don't change. I love you, man, the way you are."

That one got Danny to chuckle and Steve smiled in relief.

"I need it to stay that way, all right? BFFs, you remember?"

He offered him a fist, for a pound and Danny went for it. "Yeah, forever. You know that."

"Well, actually… that's actually what it means. Best friends forever." Danny rolled his eyes. "See, you did it again."

"Did what again?"

"You see, it's dismissive…" "—What's dismissive?" "… When you roll your eyes, I feel…" "—The don't say things that deserve an eye roll."

As they headed back to the picnic table, without the drinks Steve said they were going to pick up, the argument continued.

God was it too late to change his mind?

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

After dinner at Kamekona's shrimp truck the McGarrett family headed home. Con to his own house and the McGarrett's and Wo to Steve's. Steve, while holding Rowan's hand, watched as Rowan opened up a portal to Japan for her brother, telling him to text her when he was ready to head back to California.

Steve couldn't help but wonder how the CIA or the FBI or whoever had a hold of Wo Fat's contract at this point kept allowing him to take so many days off. Maybe he wasn't telling him when he was going off, he was just disappearing?

Either way it was none of his business, essentially.

Rowan and Steve briefly spoke to each other in the kitchen, they went over the talking points and the pieces they wanted to keep from Nahele if they could, and then, when they figured they had a plan of attack they called the boy down.

They had him sit on the couch and they sat in two chairs before him that they had taken out of the kitchen.

"Uh… this isn't an intervention… right?"

Both Rowan and Steve shook their heads. "No, no, this… this is because your mom mentioned that you might have… you might have listened in on my intervention this morning, is that true?" Nahele nodded and Steve did too. "And… you have questions? Right?"

"Yeah… they were saying… they were saying that you have radiation poisoning? That's not true… right?"

Steve took a very deep breath, obviously dreading having to do this, but Rowan reached out, took a hold of his hand and gave him the strength to admit this to his son.

"Yes, it is," he said, hating the fear that lit up on his son's face. "I'm uh… I've finished the treatment for it, I am no longer dealing with the symptoms, but there are uhm… there are going to be some long term effects."

Nahele blinked his eyes. "Like… like what?"

"Well, it's nothing too serious… honestly it's just…" "—Stop LYING TO ME!" Nahele suddenly shouted and both of them jumped.

"Nahele, it's just, it's not…"

"No! I know something is wrong. And I know you want to keep it from me! But stop it! Stop telling me everything's fine when it isn't. Just tell me the truth!"

Steve glanced to Rowan who simply stared back at him, a soft incline to her head as if to say: "It's up to you…"

Steve turned back to Nahele, whose chest was heaving as he glared them down, and sighed once more. So much for keeping their kid blissfully unaware of what was going to happen.

"Alright, fine. In the next ten or so years, I'm probably going to get very, very sick," Steve admitted and Nahele flinches like Steve had lashed out at him.

"How… how sick?"

"It's gonna be pretty bad," Steve said.

"Can't you fix it?" Nahele asked turning to Rowan. "You know, with the strings?"

"She uh… she did," Steve said. "You know how she was getting sick too?"

"Yeah?"

"Well that was her fixing it. She pulled my radiation poisoning out of me and got herself sick while she was doing it," Steve explained while Rowan nodded. A panicked look swept over Nahele's features. "That's why I didn't have her fix it the whole way. I did want her to get sick like me, you know?"

"So… so… so… what does that mean? She only fixed it part of the way? I thought you said the radiation poisoning was dealt with!"

"It was, is," Steve said and then glanced to Rowan as he tried to think how to put this. "Ro couldn't fix my strings for the future without pulling that sickness out of me first, but even though she still did that the long term effects are still there, I'm still going to get sick…" "—What kind of sick?" Nahele asked cutting him off.

"Like… Like cancer…" "—Like for reals? Like chemo, lose your hair, always tired and sick, Cancer?

Steve didn't want to think about it like that but he did nod. "Yes."

He watched his kid's sharp inhale at that admission and he knew why that would upset him. His mother had died from cancer, his bio-mother that is. This was probably all some kind of terrifying déjà vu.

"So… but… what… what are we going to do? Do you know if it's gonna… if it's gonna…"

"Originally yes," Rowan said and Steve hated that he could see tears welling up in his son's eyes. And a little surprised that he was that upset about it. It honestly hadn't occurred to him that it would affect him that much, he honestly thought he'd care more about Rowan. "That's why I intervened. That's why I chanced making myself sick to fix it. I've got his chances down to 40 percent."

"40 percent of what?"

"Surviving."

"She mean's 60. I'm at a 60-40 ratio. It's a 60 percent survival rate, that 40 is what might take me down," Steve explained and Nahele let out a bit of a sigh of relief.

"Okay… okay…. And those are good odds?"

"For the cancer he's going to get, yes."

Nahele seemed to think this over for a minute and Steve glanced to Rowan who was nibbling on her lips in worry.

"This is way off, though," he said. "Like 10 years away at the least, could be even longer."

"And you'll tell me, right? You'll tell me when this happens?"

"Well… we wouldn't want to interfere with whatever you have going on in your life at that time…"

"Fuck that," Nahele said right away and then winced, cause he knew that his parents didn't like him swearing, especially at them. "Sorry. But no. Respectfully no. I want to know, I want to be here to help, it doesn't matter what's going on, or where I am. So you have to tell me. Promise you'll tell me."

He aimed that promise at Rowan because he knew what she was like with her word. She very rarely broke her promises.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Rowan said instead and Nahele nodded.

"So… so… the whole stress intervention thing…"

"Danny thinks that my stress is going to drive me to cancer early," Steve muttered.

"But… mom says it's going to happen no matter what… right?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't Uncle Danno know that?"

"He does."

"Then what the fuck was the point of this morning?" Nahele cried and then shot another glance to his mother. "Sorry."

"It's alright, it's how your father felt too," Rowan said and Steve smiled.

"It's a bit of a messed up situation but his heart is in the right place," Steve said. "But I'm going to tell you what I told him. I don't want this to affect you in anyway…"

"Dad…" he said, his voice cracking. "Dad, this is a big deal. You could die. That's obviously going to affect me. I don't know why you'd think it wouldn't."

"Yes, I know that, but not right now," Steve said. "The fact of the matter, if your mom wasn't here looking at my strings, I wouldn't know this for sure. I'd be living with this cloud hanging over me which would have been worse. But yes, yes, I know I'm getting cancer, it's unavoidable, but you know what? My odds of surviving are good. So I'm not going to spend ten years or more waiting for that shoe to drop. I'm going to live our life, together and happy, don't you want to do that too? Make the most out of everything until the sickness does come?"

"I mean… I guess…"

"Good," Steve said. "So try not to worry about it right now. It's not a right now worry. It's going to happen when it happens, and when it does I'm going to have my family to help me through it. Right?"

Nahele got up right away. He crossed to Steve and wrapped him up in a big hug. "Course I'll be there," he whispered as Steve hugged him back.

This was what he needed.

Not a stress intervention, or a stress management coach. He needed his family, he needed them there with him.

It was the only way he'd survive.