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A/N: Guys this is it. These are the chapters I'm super excited for. This is where things start getting really exciting, this is where things start getting messy and angsty. This is where emotions are admitted, patience is tested and terrible things are going to be said. (okay maybe not in this chapter right now, but it's coming guys. It's coming!) This one still has the funny bits in it, but it's going to start getting real interesting after this. Feel free to tell me what you think your theories are about what happens in this chapter, let's see if anyone of you can guess where it's going to go! And as always, see you guys next Friday!

Chapter 17

Steve was having a hard time liking Danny's idiot Nephew. E-Train aka Eric. The amazing nephew who got caught stealing a car and was here to get straightened out by his uncle. So far the only thing that cheered him up was that Danny seemed even more frustrated by his nephew's behaviour than him.

"Just go sit in my office," Danny snapped to keep Eric from playing with the smart table and opening up any more files and documents.

"And what am I going to do in there?" Eric asked, or actually, it was more like whining.

"I don't know. Why don't you meditate on the poor life decisions you've made," Danny snapped and sent the kid off. Steve watched him go and then looked back to Danny to see if he was okay. The poor man was most certainly not.

He was going to say something encouraging, but Danny was already talking.

"It's like house-training a puppy. I mean, the kid has zero impulse control," he hissed.

"Is now a bad time?" came a small voice and Steve nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned and Rowan was standing at his side. She wore one of her signature summer dresses. This one was an empire waisted sea blue dress with mermaids dancing around the hem. Her hair was pulled back in a braid, and she was wearing make up on her face that sharpened all of her features and just made her twice as pretty as she usually was. She was staring up at him with her impossibly blue eyes and Steve had the sudden fear that he had forgotten something important.

"What the hell? RO?!" Steve cried. "What are you doing here?"

"We were supposed to go for lunch," she said and Steve felt his stomach drop down to his toes. "It's okay, I figured you caught a case or something. Do you wanna do a vending machine lunch?"

Steve glanced to Danny and then to Chin who was walking in and looked like he had something important to say. He didn't want to have to say no, but he knew he was going to have to.

Rowan turned to each face, taking in each unique expression before she nodded. "Ah. Right, never mind. Rain check I guess," she said and then fished her phone out of her pocket. "I'll just ask Alex if he wants to go out for lunch or see if he has a break soon or something."

Since Catherine had gone back to her ship, Steve had been trying to spend more time with Rowan. Personal time, to get to know each other, to show her more of the island, to keep her from getting too bored and wandering off. At first all was fine and they were having fun but lately, whenever Steve had been too busy and had to cancel last minute on their plans, which had been almost every time they made plans, she had asked Alex to take her instead.

Which meant she and Alex went to the museum, Alex took her to her first surf lesson with Kono, Alex took her to movies and tried out the new restaurants that Steve and Rowan had wanted to try. He got to do all the cool things Steve had wanted to do with her but couldn't. He shouldn't have been mad, it was his fault for not letting the team take on a case for a few hours so he could follow through with whatever was planned, but couldn't she just wait until they had a chance to go together?

He was too afraid to ask her that. He was certain he already knew the answer.

If I waited for you we'd never go.

Because that's what he'd say if he was her.

"Guys, I got a voicemail you need to hear," Chin said interrupting Steve's thoughts and beside him Rowan's phone clattered out of her hand and she suddenly plummeted to the ground.

Steve heard the startled cry escape his lips as he was reaching out of her. He managed to grab her as she fell, a single grip on her wrist but that didn't stop her from hitting the ground. He only managed to jerk her arm and Rowan mostly out of her daze.

"What was that?" Chin asked. "Did she have another one of her visions?"

"Really? Visions?" Steve hissed, kneeling down beside her, her wrist still tightly in his grip. "They are not visions."

"I fell again," Rowan whispered as if she was just realizing it. The emptiness in her tone was what worried Steve though. "I got dizzy, sorry."

"So, what set you off?" Chin asked her as Steve helped her back up into a standing position, gripping both her hands tightly and afraid to let her go. Steve shot him a glare but it only made Chin smile more.

"You said you had a voice mail. And suddenly all I could see was a body in an acid bath," Rowan whispered, her grip on Steve's hands tightening. She looked scared and he understood. If she was seeing what he saw this morning it had not been a pretty sight. She glanced over to Danny. "Danny's Nephew is here, right?"

"Yeah, E-Train's here," Steve told her ignoring how Danny scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Did you leave him alone in your office?" she asked Danny carefully extracting her hands from Steve's grip all while avoiding his eyes. Steve didn't know what was happening, but he had noticed that Rowan was very careful to not touch him, and whenever she did her cheeks would flame and she'd pull away from the contact.

"Yeah?" Danny replied not sure why that mattered and also ignoring the glare that had formed on Steve's face as he stared at Rowan waiting for her to look at him, but she was pointedly refusing.

"You should not have done that," she said stooping down to pick up her phone, she then stared at the screen as if waiting for something.

"What? Why? What are you doing?" Danny snapped.

"I'm waiting," she said and then waved at Chin who had been standing to the side watching the interactions carefully with a small grin on his face. Steve hated that everyone grinned when watching he and Rowan together, there wasn't anything for them to be smiling about. "Go ahead Chin."

Chin merely pressed a button and a really irate woman's voice could be heard basically threatening their dead professor.

"That came in two days ago," Chin told them.

"Well as far as threats go, that's not subtle," Danny said.

"Did we ID our caller?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, number came back to a Rebecca Fine. She's a senior in Cutler's Advanced Chem class," Chin said but before he could pull up her picture Rowan said: "Five foot two, brown hair, brown eyes. Matches your description."

She hadn't even looked up from her phone and yet she had quoted the description the Dean had given them word for word.

"Yeah, she's right," Chin said pulling up the photo.

Steve shot a glare at her but Rowan kept looking at her phone. Steve tried to listen as Danny and Chin went over theories. Because she fit the bill, left Cutler's office in tears, had access to the lab, had been staying late with the professor, it all made sense. But Steve couldn't stop staring at Rowan. He should have remembered they had lunch plans, he should have texted her or called her to reschedule, but he had completely forgotten. He figured she was mad at him, but she didn't look it and she wasn't acting her text book mad either.

Rowan's phone buzzed and she gasped and quickly opened whatever it was. She suddenly started laughing. Between her bursts of laughter she pointed at Danny and managed to say: "Oh, this is even better in person!"

"What, what is she talking about?" Danny asked.

Chin's phone buzzed too and he checked it as well. "Now, this is the best thing I've ever seen!" he crowed and he too began to laugh.

"Oh, oh, you shouldn't have left him alone in your office," she cried, literally, tears of mirth were running down her cheek. She was leaning against the smart table as if it were keeping her up.

Steve's phone buzzed and he pulled it out to check. The photo on the screen was definitely worth cracking up about.

"It's our own Mr. Williams. As Mr. November in the 1998 Newark Police Academy calendar," Chin said.

Rowan's laughter had turned into wheezing, she once again collapsed to the floor, this time because her knees had given out from laughing too hard. Steve let her hit the ground this time. It was funny but not that funny.

Steve showed Danny the picture. "Look at you, buddy!"

"I was young, this was for charity. Where did you even get this?" Danny snapped.

"I believe you just emailed it to me," Chin said. "All of us by the looks of it."

"Uh… no, I didn't," Danny snapped.

"I told you not to leave him alone in your office!" Rowan exclaimed from the floor. "It went to your whole address book!"

"It is not this funny!" Danny snapped, stalking past Steve and Rowan to accost his nephew whom he had finally noticed was on his computer in his office.

Steve bent over and grabbed Rowan up from off the floor. She was still giggling but calming down, AND she was still glancing at her phone still. He knew she was waiting to hear if Alex would be taking her for lunch.

"Uh, you know, Rowan, if he's not available you can come with me and Danny we can get lunch on the way back," Steve offered.

"Oh… Rainbows? So we can dine and dash and not get in trouble?" she asked.

Steve smiled at her. "Yeah, so… is that okay?"

"Sure! I'll just tell Alex I can't meet him," she said returning to her phone.

Steve tried not to let that get to him as he walked to Danny's office. She hadn't flat out said it, but she had implied that Alex had already replied and agreed to meet her. But she had blown him off for Steve. She had picked him over Alex. Repeat. SHE HAD PICKED HIM OVER ALEX. It shouldn't have mattered but it did.

He opened the door and tried to look like he wasn't about to break out in a happy dance. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Danny and Eric looked like they were having a moment too. Luckily it seemed to be over.

"Let's go, I got a case to work," Danny said and Eric nodded and plodded out from behind his desk.

Once he was out in the bullpen though that sulk he had from getting reprimanded was wiped off his face.

"Oh, hello fine lady," Eric said sauntering up to Rowan.

Rowan looked up from her phone, looked Eric up and down with a cold appraising eye and then said: "Nice to meet you Eric, but I'm not interested."

Steve tried not to laugh, but he couldn't hold it in. She had shot Eric down with one curt but polite comment and the kid looked so shocked by it. Now that was his girl.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

The stop off at Rainbows had to be rushed. There was no sitting out in the sun and eating their messy burgers and fries across from one another. There was no eating in the Camaro either Danny was clear about that but was ignored.

E-Train pulled out his burger and ate regardless of the yelling and moaning coming from Danny's side of the car. Even Rowan was eating, being smart enough to sneak fries every now and then and catching Steve's eyes in the rear view mirror every time he checked. Which was really unsafe because he always forgot to check for cars.

The yelling didn't stop, even when they got out of the Camaro. It didn't stop until Danny had confirmed that nothing had been spilled in the back seat of his car. Steve had purposely saved his food so he could eat with Rowan, he had already spotted the perfect spot, under a giant tree on the front lawn of the sorority house. He could already see them sitting side by side, shoulder to shoulder talking about whatever he could think about. He did want to know more about her. All there was to know about her, if he could. He was getting those warm fuzzy feelings in his stomach just thinking about it.

He forced himself to think of something else. Like the upcoming interrogation. He let her fall into step beside E-Train and hoped to god that Danny's idiot nephew didn't do or say anything to Rowan that would make Steve turn around and punch the kid out.

Eric was two steps into the damn sorority when he said: "I need to rethink my decision to skip college."

Well, at least he wasn't saying anything about Rowan.

"Easy their tiger," Danny said with a sigh and Steve tried not to laugh. Instead he approached the nicest and closest sorority girl.

He didn't even get to ask her the question he wanted to ask. She smiled when she saw him and Steve internally winced, he was going to have to tell this co-ed that she was too young for him.

He was not expecting her to call out to the whole house: "Kelly, your dads are here to pick you up!"

Steve turned to Danny who had turned to stare at him. Steve pointedly ignored Eric who looked confused for all of two seconds before he started laughing and Rowan who was just covering her mouth. He'd have said it was to cover her laughter but she was looking a little white and he wasn't so sure that was why she had covered her mouth.

The girl who was Kelly walked over to them. "Those aren't my dads," she told her stupid sorority friend.

"I'm sorry," Steve said trying really hard not to get angry. "You think I look old enough to be her father?"

"That's… that's the part you bumped on?" Danny asked looking all sorts of concerned.

"You were right. This is definitely worth coming for," Eric said, trying to hide his smirk by eyeing all the girls around him.

Rowan stepped up, her hand on his shoulder and a playful smirk on her face. Okay, maybe she was just hiding her laughter from him.

"Don't worry, you don't look old to me," she whispered and then kissed his cheek. The lightest, softest kiss she had ever placed. So light he practically leant in for more. "Um… I'm not feeling well. I'm going to go wait outside, okay?"

Then before he could even ask her if she wanted him to go with her she turned on heel and rushed outside. Okay… maybe she wasn't hiding laughter?

Steve made a mental note to check on Rowan once they were done talking to their suspect as he pulled out his badge to show the idiot girl in front of him. "Okay, excuse me. We're looking for Rebecca Fine. Is she here?"

The girls had the decency to look awed by his badge and were quick to answer his questions. "Yeah. Becky's room's upstairs. Second Door on the right."

Steve thanked them before walking away. Danny turned to follow but Eric stayed where he was. "You guys go ahead, I don't wanna get in your way," he said. "Besides, I'll watch Rowan for you, hold her hair if she pukes or something."

Steve forced himself to keep walking, pounding up the stairs so he wouldn't turn around and smack Eric. He would not be touching Rowan, if she needed her hair held back Steve would be doing it. He did it all the other times over Christmas and through her last concussion he'd do it this time too. By now he knew how to do it right, how to rub her back to soothe her and when to hand her drinks and tissues. He also knew where to stand to avoid the splatter.

Taking care of Rowan was Steve's job, he didn't even like sharing it with his Mother and he definitely didn't like sharing it with Alex. So there was no way in hell E-Train was going anywhere near her.

Steve found the right door and knocked. "Go away!" came flying out at him from behind the door. Well that was rude.

"Rebecca, this is Commander McGarrett of Five-0. Open the door," he ordered. He wasn't in a good mood so his voice came out a little harsher than intended but at least it changed her attitude.

"Okay, one second," she called out. "I'm just getting changed."

Then the lock to the door clicked. Steve wasn't sure if it was a locked click or an unlocked click but he had a feeling that couldn't have been good. In fact he was starting to feel a little sick himself. Maybe it was the fries, something must have been wrong with Rainbow's fries. Fuck. He should have just sent Danny and Chin and gone somewhere else with Rowan seeing as they probably just got food poisoning from Rainbow's. But hey, at least he'd be off sick with Rowan. That would give him alone time with her.

Danny turned to Steve. "You buying that?"

Ah yes. He was on a case.

"No," he answered quickly. He pulled out his gun, with Danny following suit and then he kicked the door it. They stormed into her room, though it was small and checked all the spaces they could think of. It was Danny who spotted the window, just in time to watch Rebecca take off on a little pink scooter despite them calling after her to stop.

Well that was their suspect was on the run. Steve and Danny sprinted down the stairs to get to the Camaro. Steve was already shouting Rowan's name, expecting her to be there, to come running and when she didn't Steve froze.

He had a suspect on the run and Rowan was missing. He scanned the area but couldn't see her. Was she back inside? She did say she wasn't feeling well so maybe she had gone in to use a washroom. Dread was sinking into his stomach, panic had gripped him with icy hooks. Something was wrong. He knew it.

"Come on! We'll come back for her!" Danny cried. Steve glanced around one more time. There was no sign of a struggle, nothing that could tell him where she had gone and if she was in trouble. Steve was forced to swallow the fear that had rose up into his throat like bile and got into the driver's side of the car.

He'd just have to call her during the chase.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Rowan was being torn in two.

When she had stumbled outside she thought she'd vomit. She didn't think that this would happen and she didn't even know what this was but she was sure it was killing her.

It had started with a fever and then a terrible pulsing in her chest. Then for an agonizing thirty seconds the air was ripped from her lungs and it felt like she was being dragged underwater slowly. Her eyes were squeezed shut against the pain. They didn't open until the cold bit against her skin. Going from boiling to freezing burned, she forced herself to breathe, the gasps for air stinging for they too were freezing. Snow swirled around her, someone was standing above her but she couldn't see the person clearly nor could she hear whatever they were trying to say.

Panic gripped her. She wanted this to stop.

And it did.

For a brief second the ice vanished and the heat of Hawaii returned to her. But it didn't stay. For the second she touched down on the grass she was pulled right back to the snow.

Hawaii.

Snow.

Hawaii.

Snow.

She was being torn between two places. Everything was burning around her. She could barely breathe. She couldn't move from the weight of the pain. She wanted this to stop. She wanted to stay in Hawaii. She wanted someone to save her. So she screamed for the only person in her head and in her heart. The one person she thought could save her from this.

STEVE!

She heard her cry, shrill and yet muffled, echoing and pulsing and yet not moving anywhere but instead floating around her as if it had no one else to go. For a brief moment in the swirling typhoon of tropical green and crisp white she swore she could see a single red thread winding through it was if searching through the storm to find an anchorage point. It came to a jerking halt, jolting her backwards. She tumbled out of the typhoon and into a tight embrace. She gasped for air as sobs shook her body. She clung to her anchor, afraid that if she let go she'd be pulled back into the storm.

She stared up into cerulean blue eyes, crinkled with worry. She belated realized that he was talking to her, asking her something. He sounded as frantic as she felt. So she held onto him a little tighter.

"Don't let me go," was all she could say to him before the pain became too much and she lost consciousness.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Steve couldn't stop the shaking. Not Rowan's and not his owns. She trembled in his arms like she was freezing but she felt feverish to his touch. Her breathing was laboured like she had been running miles but it came in staggered gasps as if she had been holding her breath.

He was still in shock.

He knew something was wrong. He had felt it in his gut. Rowan hadn't run off, but she hadn't been taken. She was in trouble, but he didn't know where she was. So when he returned to the sorority house, after catching up with Rebecca and throwing her into the back of the Camaro, he expected to retrace Rowan's steps and find her injured in a ditch. He'd swoop in to rescue her, carry back up the hill like the hero he was and he'd take her for ice cream and lecture her about wandering off.

What he wasn't expecting was to find her on her hands and knees blinking under the shade of the tree like a flickering candle in the wind.

For a minute he wasn't certain what he was staring at.

She was there and then she wasn't. She was blinking in and out of existence. And he would have thought that impossible except for that fact that Rowan didn't come from here. It was almost like he was watching her get pulled back to where she belonged... like she was going home. But Steve couldn't let that happen. She couldn't leave because she belonged here… with him.

And then she screamed. He couldn't hear it, it was like she was on mute, but he saw the pain on her face and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the one word she had screamed had been his name. He would have to do something, anything to help her.

He didn't know why he thought this would work but before he could stop himself he shot forward, gripped the back of her shirt and pulled her up off of the ground and back into his arms.

The first thing he noticed was the cold. It was almost like he plunged his hand into freezing cold water, but neither his hand nor Rowan came back wet. When she was solid again he clung to her, backing her away from that tree like it was the reason this happened. He held onto her afraid she might disappear and that couldn't happen.

There was a tightness in his chest that was constricting with every beat. Thoughts were rapidly flying through his head. Could this happen at any time? What had set this off? Aside from her not feeling well was there really anything that could have been considered a warning sign? How could he stop this from happening again without having her handcuffed to his side at all times? That wasn't even a viable option, what the hell would he tell Catherine?

Yes, Rowan needs to be handcuffed to me at all times because if I don't she'll go back to her own time and I don't want her to leave me. Not in a romantic way at all… yes… not concerning in the least.

Even he knew that was stupid. And a flat out lie.

"What was that?" Danny asked coming to stand beside him. He put a hand to Rowan tentatively like he thought touching her would hurt him. "I mean… you saw that right? What the fuck was that?"

"I don't know, Danny," Steve snapped. "Yes I saw it but I don't know what that was."

"Well is she okay?" Danny asked.

"She was fucking flickering, dudes!" Eric cried popping up behind Danny. "People don't flicker like that. Is she like… an alien?"

Steve glared at him and Danny pushed him away. "Wait in the fucking car," he ordered but Eric wouldn't move.

"You should check her phone. If that was alien activity her phone would be acting screwy," he offered. "Or we could autopsy her and see if all her organs are the same as ours."

Steve was dangerously close to hitting this boy. If he said one more thing about Rowan he may actually drop her to kill him with his bare hands though he probably wouldn't just because he was absolutely terrified that if he let her go she'd disappear. Luckily Danny intervened, gabbing Eric by the back of the neck and practically throwing him into the back of the Camaro.

To keep himself calm Steve counted each of her heart beats thudding softly against his own chest and once Danny was he done he faced his friend to answer his question. "She seems okay. She's breathing, she has a pulse…" he whispered.

He held her a little more closely, his lips in her hair but her scent is gone. None of that lilac sweetness is there but instead his nose was filled with the stench of crisp burning, not the smell of charred skin or fried hair, but the smell of an ice cube fresh from the freezer. Fuck. What had happened to her?

"Should we take her to the hospital or something?" Danny wondered.

Steve shook his head. "Course not," he snapped. "How would I explain this?"

"True," Danny said. He glanced down at where Rowan was being cradled. Her head resting against Steve's shoulder, a death grip on his light grey shirt. But that was nothing compared to how tightly Steve was holding onto her. Danny was surprised she could breathe at all.

"So what do we do?" Danny asked him.

Steve glanced down to Rowan again. He shifted her in his arms, not because she was heavy, because she wasn't, but because he wanted her even closer to him.

"Take her home," he said. "Get someone to watch her."

"You gonna put her in the back?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, but I'm staying with her," he said, not voicing that he wouldn't be letting her go either, but he knew it was implied. Luckily Danny said nothing about it, but he did force Eric to get out of the back and into the front seat.

Once they were situated in the back seat, Rowan still on his lap, still in his death grip, and Danny was driving Steve made quick work of looking through Rowan's pockets. He discretely slipped her phone out of the back pocket and tried to turn it on. The phone was dead. Not just dead the screen was pitch black, shattered and leaking fluid. Whatever had happened to her had destroyed her phone. How the hell was she alive?