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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Labour Day everyone! So, you guys. I wanna start by saying thank you for all the kind messages about my dog. It was very hard but at the same time it was a necessity, he was in pain and we needed to think about what was best for him. But on a more positive note, we hit 100 reviews! Thanks so much for showing me and this story so much love! To show you how much I love you guys, I'm going to give you guys 2 updates this week.

You're getting this chapter today and the Bonus chapter will be released on the usual Friday :D So this Chapter is a little filler chapter so it's gonna be shorter than the others. This is the Christmas episode (I know it's early) and we get to see a little bit of how Catherine reacted to being dropped last chapter. Don't forget to tell me what you think and I'll see you guys on Friday!

Chapter 15

The door opened to Danny and a topsy-turvy Rowan was staring up at him. Something was off, he could tell just by the way her smile rested crookedly on her face. Add in the swaying and he knew someone had gotten into the eggnog early. Steve was right behind her clearly trailing after her doing damage control.

"It's Danny-Daniel-Danno," Rowan cried moving in for a hug. Danny grinned over her shoulder to Steve who looked just about ready to pull his own hair out.

"Rowan, Rowan, we agreed to stay on the couch," Steve reminded her as he put his hands on her shoulder to pry her off of Danny. Good ol'Steve, still unable to handle Rowan making contact with someone other than him.

Rowan turned to him, losing her balance and slamming into the open door as she almost toppled over. Danny and Steve had their arms out to catch her if she fell but she didn't.

"We did, but the door rang," she said. She took half a step forward and went down, Steve had to lurch to stop her from hitting the ground.

She hopped back up. "I'm good, I'm good!" she said moving towards the kitchen. Her Christmas dress, a dark green navy dress with a wide skirt and a red collar, was twirling around her legs as she walked away. Her feet in a pair of moccasin slippers that did not match at all. She looked adorable, except for the fact that she was completely intoxicated.

Steve watched her go, glanced back to Danny and then shouted: "Mom, Incoming!"

"Got it!" Doris called back from somewhere in the kitchen.

"How much has she had to drink?" Danny asked handing Steve the gifts he had brought.

One for him, one for Doris, one for Rowan, and a bag of for the gift Grace had made Steve and the gift she made Danny buy for Rowan. Two subscriptions to the guns and ammo magazine and one perfume and moisturizer set that Grace said all ladies liked, and from Grace a glittered up handmade picture frame with a picture of her and her Uncle Steve, and then a stuffed fox for Rowan.

"She swears up and down she only had one glass of eggnog," Steve said.

"How much rum is in that Eggnog?"

"Honey, no, no more eggnog for you!" Doris was suddenly crying.

"Shit!" Steve cried making a mad dash for the kitchen. Danny tried not to laugh because it wasn't funny… oh, who was he kidding? It was hilarious!

Someone else knocked on the door and with the commotion in the kitchen getting louder Danny decided to help out his host by answering the door for him. Catherine stood on the other side with Nurse Alex coming up behind her.

"Welcome," Danny said, he then leant in close to her and whispered: "You're going to love this."

Catherine's warm smile faded. "Do I want to know what you're talking about?"

Danny shrugged. After the events of two nights ago he wasn't certain how Catherine was going to react to the current situation. Though Danny thought it was hilarious to watch Steve drop his girlfriend, grab Rowan's new boyfriend by the collar and then slam him down on the table, it had not been funny for anyone else. It had taken a lot of talking to unruffle those feathers. But eventually Rowan got Steve off of Alex, Steve convinced Catherine and Alex that he wasn't interested in Rowan romantically and he was just mad that Alex abandoned Rowan to get arrested. Alex explained that he thought no one would dare arrest Lieutenant Commander McGarrett of Five-0's Ward and that he genuinely cared for Rowan and wouldn't purposely get her in trouble or leave her in peril. Rowan eventually got Steve and Catheirne to go off on their date and as soon as they were gone she bid her Five-0 family goodnight and disappeared with Alex.

Danny found out the next morning that Catherine must have forgiven Steve because he had gotten laid. He thought it was amazing that the man could drop his date to accost another girl's boyfriend and still get some at the end of the night. He wished he could be as smooth as that. He then also found out, when Steve called him frantic, that Rowan had not returned home. True to form, Steve had traced Rowan's phone the same time Danny tried calling her. She had spent the night with Alex and had been in the process of coming in the house. He heard the beginning of their argument on the phone before she hung up, but she and Steve had yelled it out and made up by the end of the day. Now with Steve, once again, on Rowan-sitting duty, so soon after assuring Catherine he didn't care about Rowan in any other way than friend, Danny didn't know how Catherine would react to this one.

Rowan came out of the kitchen, tumbler in hand filled with what must have been eggnog. She spotted Alex threw back the rest of her drink, shouted his name and then fell into his arms. Quite literally.

"Oh geeze!" Alex said staggering under her sudden dead weight.

Catherine turned to Steve who was following after Rowan. "Is she drunk?" she asked as he leant in and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Completely wasted," Steve agreed, leaning over and pulling the empty glass out of Rowan's hand before she could drop it.

"Seriously, Ro, no more eggnog for you," he ordered.

"Oh stuff it Commander Kill-Joy!" she cried before pulling Alex's head down into a long and sloppy kiss. The adults around them groaned with displeasure before heading to the kitchen to avoid anymore displays of affection from the young people.

Doris smiled at the people walking through. She took one look at Steve's face and said: "I thought I heard my favourite Nurse," she said which caused Steve's scowl to darken.

"They're currently sucking face," Danny said with a grin and then pointed at Steve's scowl. "Hence the reason Steve is making that one."

Doris nodded like she understood, she was pulling the turkey out of the oven. "Then you should have watched her alcohol consumption, honey," she said to Steve.

Steve shook his head. "I can't watch her all the time, mother. Besides, she was in the kitchen with you, how did you not notice?" he shot back.

"Come on now. If I had seen anything out of the ordinary I would have stopped her. All she did was make the pie, which is currently cooling. She got it in the oven, she poured herself a glass of eggnog and then she went to take her meds. I didn't notice anything until she came down…" " Doris trailed off and she turned to Steve, shock on her face. "You don't think…?"

"Shit."

Steve was on the move while Danny and Catherine asked what was wrong. He got to the living room and found Nurse Alex hovering over Rowan who was lying down on the couch.

"Her pupils are crazily dilated, are you sure she's drunk?" Alex asked.

Steve was standing beside him, Rowan's eyes opened up and she gasped softy. "Two Alexes?" she asked. And then she gasped again, this time loudly. "No! One Steve. One Alex! No! No! You do look alike!"

Steve had been about to ask her a question, now he was staring at her slack jawed as Rowan groaned and threw her arm over her eyes like she had been mortally wounded.

"NooooOOOOOooooooooooooooooo," she sobbed. "I'll never unsee it."

Steve slapped her arm away and grabbed her by the head, both hands clasped over her ears. "Did you take your meds with the eggnog?" he asked.

Rowan's mental break down ceased immediately. Her eyes crinkled with confusion. "Yeah. Why?"

Everyone around them groaned. Now they understood. "Rowan, that eggnog had rum in it!" Steve snapped. "You can't mix your pills with alcohol!"

Rowan's mouth fell open again. "You spiked the eggnog?! What is wrong with you people? That's just so wrong!"

"Fuck Rowan!" Steve swore, Alex put a hand on his arm and Steve turned to him.

"I can watch her," he said. "Make sure she's alright."

Danny waited. He watched the emotions play on his partner's face. The hell no was right there right beside the anger that Alex even offered. But then he saw the way Rowan was clinging to Alex's shirt like he was her anchor and a stiffness came over him. His eyes darted over to Catherine and that stiffness became set in stone.

"Yeah, uh, her room is the first one on the left," he said standing up and letting Alex hoist her up in his arms.

"Are you Boyfriend Alex or Captain Steve?" they heard Rowan ask as Alex took her up the stairs.

At this point Steve had gone back into the kitchen, his eyes pointedly not going anywhere near Rowan. Which was probably why he didn't point out that he was a Lieutenant Commander and not a Captain like he usually did. But Danny had stayed and he was watching.

Danny heard Alex ask: "And who do you want me to be?"

And he heard Rowan's soft and dreamy sigh of: "Steve."

Danny turned to the kitchen to where his partner was carving the turkey. He was no longer the loose and happy man that Danny was used to. Those emotional walls had gone up and Danny had a feeling he knew why and that the reason might be reciprocated.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

After the turkey was carved and the plates were set, one set aside for Rowan for tomorrow, and one to be taken up to Alex, the group tucked into their meal with gusto. Catherine had taken the plate up to Alex, as Steve couldn't stomach going up there. He knew the second he did he'd be angry. He'd want Rowan away from Alex, he'd want to take over her care, and he couldn't do that with Catherine in the house. He shouldn't be doing it even if she wasn't in the house.

Catherine came back down with a cute photo that she showed everyone, it seemed a bit like she did it on purpose to remind him that Rowan wasn't his and he was supposed to be with Catherine. It was of Rowan curled up against Alex's side, his arm draped casually over her shoulder, her hand under the partially unbuttoned shirt resting on the bare skin above Alex's heart. Both had their eyes closed. They looked like one of those couples on a less racy romance novel cover. Steve had taken one look at that photo and his mouthful of mouth-watering stuffing, turkey and cranberry sauce combo turned to ash against his tongue. It took all his will power to swallow it and keep it down.

He tried to talk throughout the dinner. He tried to be light and jovial. He tried to laugh at the jokes, to tell his own, to be a good host and a good friend and boyfriend. But it was hard when his mind had gone up the stairs with Rowan and seemingly hadn't come back down.

They exchanged gifts, which included Rowan's gifts for everyone. She had gotten Catherine a specialty carved lei flower with her name on it, an exact replica of the one her father had gotten her when she was younger and had been broken when it fell off the window sill. Danny got a recipe book with a special section on Frittatas so he could practice his cooking. Doris got a utility belt to replace the one she had lost. Steve got a specially printed shirt that looked exactly like the navy blue one he always wore, his favourite shirt. On the back she had put his nickname Smooth Dog jersey style. It nearly made him cry.

By the looks of it, her gifts had got to everyone. It sort of made him feel bad that all he had gotten her was a book she mentioned she wanted. He was gonna have to step up his game. It also made him curious as to how she managed to get all of this. She didn't have a job and she hadn't asked for an advance on the allowance he had been giving her.

Danny had headed home, Grace's gift from Rowan tucked under his arm still unopened. Doris was in the kitchen cleaning. Catherine and Steve had been sitting on the couch talking, stealing kisses, and basking in each other's company.

With Steve being slightly distracted by the fact that Alex still hadn't come down and he really wanted to go up there and kick him out.

"You can go check on her, you know," Catherine said, interrupting his thoughts. "I know you're worried about her."

Steve turned to her, hoping he could fake surprise and nonchalantness. "What are you talking about?"

"I keep losing you," Catherine said. "Your ward is upstairs with a guy I know you don't like, out of commission because she took a dose of heavy meds with a rum based eggnog. I know you want to go up there."

Steve thought about it for a moment. She was right. He did want to go up there, but he didn't want her to think that it had something to do with a preference to her over his girlfriend. Especially since she had flat out accused him of that literally two days ago. Of course he deserved it, he did drop her after all. Still, he didn't want her to think he was doing it again.

"Do you want to come with me?" he whispered after thinking for a bit.

"Would that be alright?" Catherine asked him.

"I mean… I know you're not exactly her biggest fan, but I wouldn't mind you checking on her with me," Steve said.

Catherine glanced away or a bit. "Yeah, about that," she said. "I'm sorry I put you in that position. I know you're just trying to be nice and she's been trying to help you with your cases. I guess it just looked like you were more interested in her than anything else, especially after what happened two days ago."

Steve thought about it for a moment, he tried not to wince. "I know it was ideal, but I just really don't trust Alex with her. I was hoping after that incident they'd break up and she'd find someone more suitable, but just cause I don't like him doesn't mean I want to date her. And you know… she put a lot of thought and effort into our date, she got the reservations, picked out my outfit, she even gave me lines to use on you," he told her. Catherine's face had changed. She was scowling now. This was not a good territory to be in. Steve lowered his eyes and continued.

"Look, Cath, Rowan… she's a handful," he said with a wry chuckle. "There's a lot of damage control I've got to do when she's around. Even if she's just trying to be helpful."

"She's a lot like you," Catherine said. "She's stubborn, impulsive and loyal to a fault. No wonder she gets under your skin."

Steve smiled softly before standing up and offering her a hand to help her up. They were quiet as they walked up the stairs to Rowan's room. They poked their heads in to find Alex still on his back and Rowan still curled up against his side.

Steve took one step into the room and Alex opened his eyes. "Time to go, right?" he asked.

"Would you mind?" Steve asked carefully, daring the man to say yes.

"Someone needs to take my place or she won't sleep," he said. "She gets really cuddly when she's like this, so if you just lie down on her other side and she'll roll over onto you."

Steve was moving towards the side of the bed. His jaw twitching but it was Catherine who asked: "How do you know she'll do that?"

"Well, she didn't really sleep when she was at the Hospital that month or so we had her, which wasn't good for her. Once I realized that she wouldn't sleep until you guys showed up I'd come in and sit with her until she went to sleep. It seems a bit weird but I couldn't keep waiting for you or your partner to show up so she'd feel comfortable enough to sleep," Alex said gesturing to Steve, the other person clearly being Danny. "Once she got more comfortable with me I'd come into her room, lie down on her bed and there you go, she'd be out like a light, just needed something to hold."

Steve blinked his eyes staring at Alex. He knew that Rowan got sleepy when Danny and Steve came to visit her. He knew that she didn't really sleep in the Hospital. He didn't know Alex had to get into her bed to get her to sleep. Had he known that he would have worked harder to get her out of that hospital faster.

Steve lay himself down on her bed and immediately Rowan rolled over and snuggled up to his side. She mumbled something into his chest, her hand came up and gripped his shirt a leg got slung over his and then she was still once more. Catherine smiled and snapped a picture before Steve could tell her that she didn't have to.

Alex, who was now free and slinging his jacket over his shoulder glanced to Catherine. "You know, if you sit down on the other side there's a good chance she switch sides," he said. "We tested this theory a lot while she was at the Hospital with us. We'd sit down and watch her roll from side to side, then she picks who's the comfiest. And let me tell you there was a big demand to be Rowan's Favourite Cuddle Partner."

Catherine glanced to Steve who, with his free hand, patted the empty side of the bed.

As Catherine walked over, Alex headed for the door. "Well thanks for having me, maybe next time I'll be able to sit at the table with the grownups," he said waving casually to them before disappearing down the hallway.

Rowan was mumbling again as Catherine got onto the bed. She had only to lay down before Rowan rolled over snuggling up to Catherine, using her stomach as a pillow.

"Oh, that's better," Rowan mumbled once she was comfortable. Catherine tried not to laugh at Steve's stricken face.

"Well damn!" he hissed.

Rowan moaned against her like she was in pain and Steve rolled onto his side to run his hand up and down her back.

"I'm sorry I ruined Christmas," she mumbled to them.

"No, you didn't ruin anything," Steve assured her.

"Course you didn't," Catherine agreed.

Rowan shook her head. "I threw up in front of hot Alex. I ruined everything."

Steve chuckled. "If that scared him away then he's not worth it," he assured her. Rowan smiled against Catherine's stomach.

"Did you like your presents?" she asked.

Catherine was rubbing her across the shoulder blades as Steve rubbed across her lower back. Both of them exchanged glances before answering.

"Yes, I did, how did you know I needed a new one?" Catherine asked.

"You mentioned to Steve that it splintered and you couldn't fix it, so I hunted down someone who carved them and had them make one for you," she said sleepily rolling away from Catherine and into Steve's chest. She nuzzled her nose against him before sighing.

"And the shirt took forever to duplicate. Kamekona had to help me out with that one," she told him. "They added Smooth Dog on the back. I thought you'd like that."

Steve smiled into her hair, one of his arms snaking around her to hold her to his chest. "I did like that. Thank you."

Rowan stayed quiet for a moment longer before she sighed again. "I'm really sorry I ruined the night," she said again. "Please don't make me leave."

Steve's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "No, no, don't worry. You're not going anywhere."

"You promise?" she asked.

"We promise," Catherine answered for them and Steve felt his heart melt a little. He held her for a little while longer, with Catherine lying beside them lightly caressing the girl's back who seemed to really like the petting. When Rowan was asleep they both snuck out of the room to snuggle themselves. Catherine went home a little later then she said she would, she still had to pack to go back on the ship after all.

And once she was gone for certain Steve changed out of his fancy wear into his pjs, a simple pair of black shorts. He returned to Rowan's room to hold her. He clutched her tightly to his chest and let the anxiety of the day, that had built up a terrible tension in his back and shoulders, slowly slip away with each of Rowan's soft exhales against his bare chest.

He always slept the best with Rowan in his arms.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Rowan's head was killing her. Her stomach was churning. Her throat stung, her mouth felt fuzzy, all her limbs were heavy. She was dying. Clearly.

She felt sweaty and disgusting. She was certain there was a sheen of sweat on her skin. She had kicked off all the blankets in her sleep and she was lying sprawled out in her bed but feeling the cool breeze hitting her skin wasn't really cooling her off.

She had a vague remembrance of having someone in the bed with her. But when she looked back on the memories of the night they were all fuzzy and vague after she took her meds. She vaguely remembered being in bed with Alex, with him holding her hair back as she threw up. She also remembered clinging to Steve and telling him that she always knew Alex looked like him and that's why she picked him. But there was also a memory of her glued to Catherine's side and asking about Christmas gifts.

Oh My God, how big of a disaster was she last night?

She felt Steve before she heard him. His presence blanketed over her and her heart doubled in pace. She turned until she saw him, his hand poised to press to her forehead.

"I don't feel so good," she mumbled to him and that hand came down on her. Knuckles cold against her feverish skin.

"Looks like you're still suffering from the withdrawal," he told her. "Do you need to go back to the washroom?"

A flash of violent vomiting replayed in her head with his soothing voice playing in the background like a soundtrack. Rowan groaned and covered her face with her hands, she could feel Steve's smile on her face even if she couldn't see it.

When she dared to look at him again he was kneeling beside her bed. "I'm never taking my meds again," she swore.

Steve shook his head, his fingers came to her cheek and brushed away the hair that had to be plastered it with the softest of touches. She tried not to lean into it. "You took your meds with rum, Rowan. This is the adverse reaction to that combination."

"Rum? No, I didn't. I took them with egg… y'all put rum in your eggnog, don't you?" she asked drily. When he winced and nodded she groaned. "That's something you tell a girl, Steve."

"Well, we both learned a lesson, didn't we?" he offered.

"Do you think you can stomach something to eat? Mom's making you soup," he asked.

At the thought of food Rowan's stomach protested. She shook her head and tried to think of anything else but all that came to mind was Steve. He must have noticed the look on her face because he quickly started talking again.

"It's okay if you can't," he said. "She's going to bring up tea for you in a minute. Now that you're conscious do you want to change out of your dress?"

Rowan nodded. "I'll need help with the buttons…"

Steve, who had helped her do up the buttons in the first place, shook his head. "They're already undone, I did that for you last night. Mom wouldn't let me change you though."

Rowan nodded quickly and tried not to blush at the thought of Steve undressing her and catching the little number she had on for later. She had planned to sneak off with Alex, it was part of his Christmas gift… getting to unwrap her. That had clearly not happened.

"I'm really sorry, Steve," she called as he walked through the door. "I'm sorry I ruined your Christmas dinner."

But he didn't answer her, he merely shut the door and she was left alone with her thoughts. She had wanted everything to go well. She had worked hard to get everyone meaningful gifts, she had worked hard to make dinner a culinary success considering nothing was made from scratch except her pie and she had gone and made a fool out of herself and probably ruined the whole night for everyone.

She got dressed slowly, mainly cause everything ached when she moved. She got on her favourite t-shirt that had once been Steve's, except this one didn't smell like him anymore so she'd need to steal a new one, and a pair of shorts. She wanted to shower but she couldn't stand for too long without the world spinning so that would have to wait.

When Steve returned, she was changed and getting back into bed and he had her tea and two presents with him. Plus, his mother was following after him even more gifts in her arms.

As Steve set down the tea on the night table next to her bed, Doris helped her back into bed and tucked her in.

"Now, Steve mentioned you felt a bit guilty about last night," Doris said. "And let me tell you, you have nothing to worry about. You didn't ruin a thing. We all had a good time, though we missed your company, and we know that it didn't happen on purpose. Mix ups like these are what make for great stories later on."

Rowan looked between the two of them, she wasn't sure if they were serious but they looked it. So, she smiled at them to show that she understood and hoped that was enough.

"We brought you your gifts," Steve said dropping the gifts on her lap.

Rowan's smile widened. "That's very nice of you," she said going for the smallest one.

"No, don't open Danny's, open one of ours first," Doris said tugging the small package out of her hands and dropping a medium sized one into her hands.

"Why does she have to open yours first?" Steve asked.

"Age before beauty," Rowan said with the straightest face she could muster. "And she has both so she wins."

It must have been hilarious because the two McGarrett's broke out laughing like she had told the funniest joke ever. Geeze, if this was how they were going to act she'd have to get trashed more often.

"Alright, fine, fine, open hers first," Steve said with a shake of his head.

Rowan smiled at them, big and toothy and began tearing the wrapping up. Inside was a simple book, but she gasped when she saw it. She opened it up and found that the paper was lined with lines. Sheet music. She had bought a book of blank sheet music.

"For you to write your songs on," Doris said. "Look at the spine."

Rowan turned it and found silver engraving down the spine. Loopy cursive of her name.

"Oh My God," she cried. "I love it! How did you know this is the one I wanted?"

"I did some recon," she said with a shrug.

"She stalked me?" she asked Steve turning her wide eyes to him. Steve shrugged because he either didn't want to answer or couldn't. Still she glared at him, because really, couldn't he control his own mother?

"Kay, mine now," Steve said picking up his own gift.

Rowan couldn't help but get bouncy. Steve had been bragging about how great her gift was gonna be. Needless to say she was super excited about the whole situation. She ripped it open and found a book on her lap. One that had just come out. Yes, she had said she wanted it, but this couldn't have been what he was so excited to give her.

"Oh! You remembered that this is the one I wanted," she said reminding herself to be grateful and not critical.

"Uh-huh, open it up," Steve ordered. Rowan did as she was told and something fell out, but that wasn't all.

"Is this book signed?" she asked glancing over the messy writing. She couldn't make out much except her name.

"Well, yeah," Steve said as if that was to be expected. "But look at the paper! Look at the paper!"

He looked more excited by this than Rowan was. Rowan picked up the paper and found that it was a receipt. She wanted to ask him what was so important about a gift receipt until her eyes zoned in on the company name.

Once Upon a Book Club

"OH! It's a book box subscription!" she cried. "You got me a book box subscription? FOR A WHOLE YEAR?! STEVE!"

Steve was laughing at her reaction as she stared at him so happy she may burst into tears. "I looked at all the options and thought you'd like this one the best. But if you don't like it we can cancel it and try a different one."

Rowan just stared at him before dropping everything and hugging him tightly. "Thank you! You're the best!"

She felt Steve's arm come around her and that warmth she had been trying to ignore came back. She pulled away trying to act like her skin wasn't tingling under the touch. She went on to open the others, a custom strap to match her guitar from Chin, free surfing lessons from Kono, a stuffed fox from Grace, a very expensive perfume and moisturizer set from Danny, gift vouchers for free helicopter rides and free food from Kamekona, and sheet music for a new piece for Rowan to learn on the guitar from Max.

After all the gifts were open, her tea was drunk, and Steve had made her try to eat a few spoonfuls of soup that she gratefully managed to hold down she was too tired to do much else but go back to sleep. Steve had stayed with her and she had cuddled up to his side feeling safe, warm and secure. She had a lot to be grateful for this Christmas, she had somewhere to stay, she had great friends and an even better boyfriend. But most of all she had Steve, and though he wasn't quite hers, sometimes it didn't hurt to pretend he might be, when she had the meds to blame it on.