Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Friday Everyone! Here's the next chapter and you're in for even more fluff and cuteness from our fav almost-couple. It's gonna be a slow burn hopefully you guys are up for it! Anyone wanna take bets on who admits their feelings first? Don't forget to show me some love and see you next week!

Chapter 6

Rowan returned to the McGarrett house following her second release from the hospital not four days after her fall. She was on minor pain meds and a strict rest and relaxation prescription. Steve and Danny had picked her up and then argued the whole way back to the McGarrett house as to how best to not stress Rowan out.

The arguing was not helping, but it seemed to be cheering the boys up so she let it happen. What surprised her was Doris' reaction. Danny dropped them off and Steve practically carried Rowan up the front walk. Before they even got to the stoop the door opened and the older woman practically tackled her in a hug. Rowan blinked her eyes, surprised, she had not thought the woman liked her.

"I leave for the weekend and my son pushes you out a window," she said. "Teach me to leave you two alone again."

"Okay, I did not push her out the window. She was climbing out of it and I was trying to stop her. She fell during the struggle, you get me, she fell," Steve explained, for what was probably the millionth time.

Rowan raised her hand with a smirk on her face. "I remember being thrown," she said which caused Steve to scowl and storm away from them.

"Well, Steve has put me on strict babysitting duty," Doris told her. "I will be here to make sure you're comfortable and well rested."

Rowan tried to smile but all she could think was: Great this woman is gonna murder me.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm trying to be nice," Doris hissed as Steve made his way to the kitchen listing off all the comfort food he had bought her to make her say home better for her.

Rowan took a shaky breath but allowed the woman to steer her towards the kitchen. "Are you really? Cause I could use a motherly influence right now," Rowan whispered back.

Doris put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her tightly. "I think this girl needs some fresh air," Doris announced. "Steve, why don't you bring her some ice cream and one of the books you picked out for her to the lanai.

Steve poked his head out from the kitchen confusion drawn all over that handsome face of his. "The lanai?" he echoed. "So soon? Won't that be traumatic?"

"It's the most relaxing spot on the property, Steve," Doris said. When his eyes merely narrowed at them Doris scowled. "If it looks like she's getting traumatized, I'll move her, I promise."

Rowan nodded and after assessing the two of them for a moment Steve conceded. "Deal," he said. "Both of you are getting two scoops."

"Yay!" Rowan said weakly. "It's like I never left the hospital."

Rowan let Doris help her sit down, though she didn't need it. She let Steve place the bowl in her lap like he was worried she'd break. She let them both dote on her because for the first time in a long while she felt like she was the most precious thing on the planet.

It wasn't until Steve got called in to work that the warm feeling she thought was just the meds started to fade.

She must have looked less happy because Doris came over to her immediately. "Don't tell me Steve was right?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"About the lanai being traumatic?" Doris explained.

Rowan laughed, the process was painful so she ended up groaning instead. "No, he's not right. If anything, windows are traumatic now. I'm never going try to climb out one again."

"Then what's the matter sweetheart?" Doris asked.

"Pain meds are wearing off," Rowan told her. It was a lie of course, but she was hoping that Doris wouldn't notice. Judging by the look on her face she didn't believe her.

"I didn't get the full story about what happened between you and my son that somehow ended in you taking a dive out of your bedroom window," Doris told her. "But I know if involved a boy. A boy my son didn't approve of."

"Alex is closer to Steve's age then mine," she grumbled. "But yes, that was what started the argument. I was half way out a window because he was trying to keep me hostage and I was escaping."

Doris laughed, low and throaty. "Steve sure does have a strong attachment to you, doesn't he?"

Rowan lowered her flaming cheeks. As much as she wanted that to be true, she knew it wasn't. "No, nothing like that. He just feels responsible for me," she told her. "Me basically dropping in on him and all."

Doris nodded as if she understood. "Is that what he told you?" she wondered. When Rowan nodded Doris crossed her legs and propped her chin up on her hand as she stared at the younger woman. "Let me tell you a secret about the McGarrett men, sweetheart…"

"They don't show emotion well," Rowan finished. "Yeah I know. But that's not what this is. He has Catherine. I have Alex. There's nothing there, believe me."

Rowan went back to her melted ice cream and tried not to let the truth get to her too badly. Who knows, maybe in an hour or so she'd call Alex and see if he could come over.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Steve had brushed off everyone's concerned questions about Rowan. She was fine, and he left it at that. He tried very hard not to jump for his phone every time the text tone went off. He tried very hard not to smile when he thought about her. He was trying altogether too hard to seem like the regular Steve McGarrett before he met Rowan, only he didn't know who that person was anymore let alone how to go back to being like him.

The terrorist cell case he had stumbled on was just the distraction he needed. Until he realized that a half a roll of rubberized explosives was missing and that meant there was a bomb somewhere on the island.

When he got into the Camaro he had called his mom immediately, while Danny was on the phone with his ex-wife Rachel.

"No Mom, you are not to go looking for it!" Steve cried, not knowing why his mother thought she could take on a terrorist cell by herself.

There was a sudden yelp somewhere in the background and Steve tried not to stiffen and failed. That was a Rowan yelp, why was she yelping in pain? His mother was supposed to be watching her. She was supposed to be resting. There was a bit of a scuffle and then he heard Rowan's laboured breathing on the phone.

"I know where the bomb is!" she cried hurriedly.

"Ro! What the hell—"

"No! Shut up and listen to me," she shouted and Steve fell silent. "There's some retirement thing on a Naval base somewhere and the Secretary of Defense is there and some other important government people and the bomb is there in a rental car!"

"Rowan, what did I tell you…" Steve started but she cut him off again.

"I'm right Steve! I'm right! It's there!" she told him the pleading in her voice squeezing his heart tightly.

"Look, please just stay inside, okay? And whatever you do, don't let my mother go looking for the bomb," he said to her and then hung up the phone.

He sat there for a bit thinking about what she said. He had made her promise not to give him the answers to his cases beforehand. She didn't remember a lot of details and he didn't want her to change things and create a bad outcome. But she had sounded so frantic, so sure of herself, so desperate to tell him that he wondered if there was a worse outcome if he didn't know.

He dialed Chin. "I want you to search for a retirement party that the Secretary of Defense may be attending, tell me if there is one or whatever," he told him.

"Oh? Are we following one of Rowan's hunches?" Chin asked, his voice light and teasing.

"Just check it for me," Steve ordered and then hung up the phone.

The car was quite for less than three seconds before Danny cleared his throat. "She knows where the bomb is?"

Steve grimaced. "She thinks so, yeah," he said.

"And if she's right?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Steve said. "Buy her a book as a thank you?"

Danny smirked. "If she's right, I'm gonna be asking her what to do for all of our cases."

"You don't think that's tempting fate?" Steve asked.

Danny shook his head. "I think fate put an encyclopedia of knowledge based entirely on our lives in our lives for a reason and it would be stupid not to use it," he argued. "Or her, I mean."

Steve kept his eyes on the road. He didn't want to use Rowan. He didn't want to access her knowledge, make her more useful then she needed to be. He wanted her to be safe and he had a feeling that if it became known that she knew what was going to happen someone would take her and force her to tell them all that she knew. Steve didn't want to think of what he would do if someone tried to take Rowan from him. He just knew it wouldn't go well for whoever tried.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Rowan awoke with a start and promptly rolled off the bed startling a groan out of her mouth. She had started to notice that her memory of the episodes were fuzzy until she was actually in them. So she had completely forgotten which episode this was until she dreamt about it. She hadn't been able to rest until Steve had called a few hours earlier. She had been right, the bomb was where she said it was, and he had been able to defuse it, or at least, some bomb specialist had. She hadn't said I told you so though she wanted to and even though she had restrained herself Steve was still unhappy with her. Yes, she knew that he didn't want her using her knowledge for anyone—let alone his—gain but she couldn't just stand idly by and let terrible things happen, could she? Helping people wasn't really anyone's gain either. She was just being helpful.

Ignoring the fact that her help in this situation probably wasn't welcome Rowan forced herself up. Her back was screaming in protest but she fought through it. By the time she had gotten up to her feet Doris had made it up the stairs and to the door.

"Honey, what happened? Did you fall?" she asked.

"We need to go," Rowan said. "There's a second bomb and Danny and Steve are gonna get stuck with it, we need to go to them."

She expected more resistance, or a few questions at least, but luckily Doris didn't do any of that. Rowan didn't even take the time to change. She left the house in her pjs, a pair of loose sweatpants and a graphic tee-shirt. Her red-blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun. She looked like a disaster, but that's where she was going so she doubted that it mattered. They got into Steve's truck and Doris went were Rowan told her to go. They parked the truck just a bit away from the barricade that HPD had put up. That meant that they had already found the bomb and Danny was already under the infrared motion sensor.

"I need to get past that," Rowan whispered and Doris assessed it.

"I'll be the distraction, you slip on in," she said. "But be careful, remember your back and the fact that you were told to relax."

"I'll relax when I see them," Rowan shot back and pointedly ignored Doris's smirk. She purposely stayed away from Doris when Doris approached the barricade. She was extremely impressed by the freak out Doris threw that got all the HPD officers to come over to her.

Rowan waved at her before slipping under the caution tape and rushing towards where she knew Steve and Danny were stuck. She heard people calling for her to stop but that didn't deter her in the least. She hopped over the machine that was checking out the bomb and then slid behind Danny wrapping her arms around him.

Danny was shouting: "Whoa, Whoa!" while Steve erupted with a loud: "Rowan?"

Rowan gripped Danny tightly, she felt his tremors of fear and tried very hard to quell hers. "I've got this," she said into his shoulder. "And by this I mean your back. Quite literally."

"Rowan what the hell are you doing?" Steve asked finally standing up.

Rowan got up on her tippy toes and looked at Steve over Danny's shoulder. "I'm being his back brace," she said. "Cause he's tired and he's scared and I thought he needed a hug."

"Rowan, don't be stupid," Steve snapped. "Get back! Now!"

Rowan glared at him, even in the face of death he looked rugged and handsome, while she looked like a hot mess. How dare he look so good in his stupid cargo pants and that black shirt that hugged his features so well. Rowan forced herself to look away, forced herself to move her mind off of Steve McGarrett and his perfect abs and butt. But she knew, if he thought he could get away with it, he'd grab her and deposit her back behind that barricade and she could not let that happen.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," she said. "I'm going to ask you guys the same question, if you both say yes, you both shut up? Got me?"

"No, I'm not going to agree to that," Steve said.

"Agree or I'll start singing Backstreet Boys," she threated.

"No," Steve snapped. "We are inches away from a live bomb, Rowan. PLEASE go back to the safety zone!"

Oh god he used her full name. She was in the shit now. If this bomb didn't kill them Steve McGarrett was going to throttle her himself.

"I agree," Danny whispered halting their argument. "Ask your question."

There was a moment's silence were Rowan's eyes darted to the side of Danny's face before turning back to Steve. Danny's eyes were on the bomb, the crinkling of worry in the lines around his eyes deep. Steve, however, looked so upset, so afraid for her, that she could see his jaw twitching as he ground his teeth and she was starting to feel quite… guilty. She wanted to be there to be supportive but it looked like she was making the situation more traumatic. Still he rolled his eyes but nodded and she knew then that he'd listen to her question.

"Okay. If the roles were reversed… if it were me pinned by this laser beam, would either of you leave me here alone?" she asked.

Danny tried not to chuckle. "Hell no. I'd be right here holding your hand," he said. He glanced up to Steve who was frowning, the vein in his jaw still pulsing away. "And don't even bother lying Steven, you'd have thought of a way to get her out and put yourself in her place by now."

"Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but you're right, I wouldn't leave," he admitted.

"Right, then neither of you can say boo to me!" she crowed triumphantly. "I'm just gonna stay here, be his underwire support…"

She cupped his pecks and bounced them up and down like they were boobs causing Danny to laugh and even Steve to crack a smile. "Don't make me laugh," Danny begged and she stopped.

"Don't worry. You can lean on me. When you're not strong. I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on," she said to him, purposely not signing it for the comedy factor. She then put her mouth close to his ear and whispered: "Don't actually lean on me cause I will not actually be able to support you. We will both go down and you'll never make it to the Daddy-Daughter dance."

"I didn't tell you about that," Danny said. "Steve did you tell her about the dance?"

"No," he answered immediately.

"How do you know about the dance? Do I get to go to the dance? You know what don't answer that, I don't want to jinx it," Danny whispered.

Rowan held her breath as the bomb person walked towards them dressed up like a scene straight out of The Hurt Locker. Rowan pressed her lips to Danny's shoulder and kept them there so she wouldn't be tempted to open her mouth and jinx the whole situation. Her eyes met Steve's and that's where the real electricity crackled. She got so lost in his electric blue eyes that she didn't even notice hurt locker fiddling with the bomb.

Then the beeping got more frantic.

"Uh-oh," came from the bomb squad guy and all panic broke loose.

Rowan's grip on Danny tightened, Steve's eyes continued to hold hers but the fear on his face was apparent.

"Go on, get out of here, both of you," Danny ordered one that was backed by the guy working on the bomb.

Rowan couldn't vocalize so she shook her head. "Not a chance," Steve muttered. Well at least one of them could talk.

"I need you guys to get out of here. I need you to look after Grace," Danny cried, he was shaking so hard Rowan thought he might come apart in her arms.

"No! You're going to do that, you're her father!" Steve argued.

"Tell me it's a happy ending, Ro," Danny suddenly said. "Tell me it's going to be alright."

Rowan caught Steve head shake, a small no. Don't tempt fate. The beeping continued, shouldn't it have been disarmed by now? She squeezed her eyes shut and decided to screw the chances. Maybe if she believed hard enough the result would stay the same. So she whispered: "It's a happy ending."

And the beeping stopped.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

"What you did today was the stupidest thing you have ever done," Steve shouted. He was pacing back in forth in front of the TV as Rowan and Doris sat on the couch in front of him. "And you at no point should have encouraged her, MOM!"

"Firstly, don't take that tone with me," Doris said pointing a stern finger at him, showing no signs of guilt what so ever. "Secondly, she was helping. I wasn't about to stand in her way while she tried to help you."

Steve glared down at them both unsure what to say. Seeing Rowan within the blast zone of that bomb, hearing her utter refusal to move, had been both the one of the proudest moments of his life and the most terrifying. And while the situation was terrifying he couldn't help but appreciate just how attractive she looked with her two toned hair up in a messy bun and her lounge clothes. It should be criminal to look that good without having to try.

"I have told you, over and over, that I don't want her using her knowledge to help us," Steve reminded her. "I don't want to tempt fate, I don't want to rewrite what's already set in stone. Today's outcome could have been completely different, do you understand? We all could have died, and that includes Rowan!"

"What is the point of her having this knowledge if you aren't going to use it?" Doris asked. "It seems like a waste to me."

Steve didn't want to argue semantics with his mother. Not with Rowan sitting right there with a blank look in her eyes. Since sitting down on the couch Steve had put a blanket around her shoulders and a mug of tea in her hand but she still seemed catatonic. The second they had gotten back in the house Doris had run off to give Rowan her, and he realized, with a sudden terrifying clarity, that she was probably in quite a bit of pain and she just hadn't said anything. This made him angrier about the whole situation.

Steve glared at his mother. "You want me to use her knowledge? Fine. Rowan, do you know why my mother refused to shoot Wo Fat?"

"Yes," she answered automatically and Steve paused.

"Wait, what?"

At this Rowan looked up, the blank look in her eyes gone, blinking like she had just woken up. "What was the question?"

"Do you know why my mother didn't shoot Wo Fat when she got the chance?" he repeated. He held his breath, not sure if he actually wanted to know the answer to that question, not sure if he'd ask her to elaborate if she actually did know.

Rowan's eyes widened at the question and then turned to Doris who merely stared right back at her. "No," Doris told her.

To which Rowan turned back to him and repeated the answer. Steve groaned and rolled his eyes. They were in on it together. His damn mother had managed to turn Rowan against him. "Are you lying to me?" he asked.

"Yes," Rowan said just as Doris said "No," once more.

Steve sat down on the coffee table and put his head in his hands. This was too hard. He wanted to know, but he didn't. He wanted to shake Rowan for her actions today but he also wanted to hold her just to know that she was still okay. It shocked him to his very core that she ran to them, that in their time of need her only thought was to be there and not for her own personal safety.

"You told me not to tell you, Steve," came Rowan's soft whisper. "You made me promise not to tell you things pertaining to your cases or your life. But you never made me promise not to act on it."

At this Steve looked up. He could tell from the look on her face that there was nothing he could do. If she thought that he or anyone else she cared about was in danger he suspected there was nothing she wouldn't do to try and help them. He looked into her glassy eyes and knew that she was in no state to argue with him and to be honest, at that point, he didn't want to.

"Fine," Steve whispered. "But PLEASE try to be more careful?"

Rowan nodded and then lowered her eyes to her hands. "Okay, now that that's out of the way, Doris has something to tell you," she said.

"Oh, no you're telling him yourself," Doris said raising her hands up in mock surrender.

"Tell me what?" Steve asked.

"No! Not fair, it was your idea!" Rowan complained.

"Yes, but he's your boyfriend!"

"LADIES!" Steve thundered. He had a feeling he knew exactly what they were going to say.

"Doris wanted to meet Alex so he's on his way for dinner," Rowan told him.

"Is that all?" Steve muttered.

"No. You have to make dinner," she said. Steve glared at her and Rowan tried to mask her smile which was no working. "Cause… your mom can't really cook and I'm in too much pain…"

"You owe me," Steve muttered which caused her to break out in a giant grin. He couldn't help it, he lived for that smile.

As he got up he caught a strange look on Doris' face and that happy feeling in his stomach twisted up and disappeared. That was another person who had just figured out just how much Steve was starting to like Rowan.