Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Oh my god guys! We got 150 reviews in less then 2 days! That honestly made my day! I can't believe you guys came through like that! So here's your second update of the week. Next week I'm a bit busier so I'm only going to do one update. But if we get to 175 reviews I'll post twice the following week. (So on the 30 and the 2nd). Does that sound fair? Anyways guys! Things are going to start getting hectic over in this story. I know some people are getting annoyed with Steve but it's only going to get worse from here. Hopefully you still like it! I still wanna know what you guys think and what you think will happen next. Even if there's something you really, really want to see, maybe I can try to work it in! As always see you next week!

Chapter 24

She was taunting him. The fucking bitch.

Every night he'd feel it. Sometimes multiple times throughout the day. She was constantly flickering. Constantly moving about. She was untraceable, untrackable, but still an ever present part of his life. First it was dropping off at Kamekona's for breakfast in a complete state of disarray. Then it was staying at Max's for a night. Showing up in Doris' living room in the middle of the night soaking wet and looking practically ghostly. And he was pretty sure she crashed at his place once or twice as well while he was out on cases.

For five days there had been a BOLO out on her. And for five days Steve dealt with terrible twinges and heart stopping tightenings in his chest. He felt like he was coming apart at the seams, like he was being torn in two by the pain. It must have been worse for Rowan. And by all accounts it was obvious it was putting strain on her.

Doris had reported that Rowan looked positively skeletal when she had showed up. Big giant bags under her eyes making her eyes look sunken and hollowed. She was skin in bones wearing nothing but her army green shorts and a sweater he had bought her on their trip to the aquarium, the shark one, with a hood that made her look like a shark, teeth and all. She hadn't eaten. She needed a shower. Doris reported that she was covered in minor burn marks and bruising. Doris had let her sleep, let her get a good couple of hours in before finally managing to get a hold of Steve who had been on a case at the time. But by the time Steve got there Rowan had left.

After that call Steve had realized that she had gotten a change of clothes. For the first time since she had left Steve had opened up the door to her room. He found an unmade bed and clothes in the hamper, they too were singed and sandy but that could have been from riot. But most distressing was that she had left her phone, the last real object he had given her, the last little bit of him she had. He found it on her bedside, screen practically melted and so shattered it was almost warped.

It had been going with her, he realized. She had been taking it with her into the void and if this was what had happened to it, what was happening to her?

His worry amplified. Every time his chest would constrict he would close his eyes, he'd envision that void and with both hands he would tug her back down with that red string that had entangled them both. It was what got him through the pain. It was what helped him breathe when the air was sucked from his lungs. He held onto that vision, he kept it close to his heart. He didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay. She couldn't leave him not until he apologized and made things right.

But he couldn't do any of that until he found her. And with her acting like she was Where's fucking Waldo it was taking way too long to actually find her.

So Steve did the only thing he could do and that was to go on with his life as if it didn't feel like his heart was being ripped from his body every time she tried to leave. And he was getting pretty good at pretending this wasn't killing him.

That day he had dressed up purposely. In his dress blues. For Danny and his court case. He had tried to soothe Danny the night before, but as Danny had pointed out Rowan had been the one who was helping him. The one who had helped him write his speech. The one who had told Steve what outfit to wear.

The court won't be able to resist you in this.

She had been on a war path for Danny. Picking up the phone for him whenever his ex called and giving her all sorts of sass. Glaring daggers at the back of her head in previous hearings. Talking him out of every anxiety driven rant he went on. And now, on the day he needed her most she was missing. Steve couldn't even be that mad at her, he was the one who had told her to leave.

Steve got to the court house and spotted Danny when only a few steps in. The poor man, also in a nice suit, was holding his head in his hands like the world was pressing down on him. And judging by how much he loved his daughter, it probably was.

"Hey!" he said so Danny would look up.

He did, of course, and then took in Steve's outfit. "Wow," was all he could say. "You look very nice, suit and tie. That's good."

Steve smiled and sat down beside his best friend. He purposely didn't mention that Rowan had picked this outfit weeks ago when Steve agreed to be a character witness. All so he could say this…

"It's for you. Wore it for you."

Danny smiled at him weakly. "Thank you."

Steve put his hat beside him. He tried not to think of how Rowan had looked at him when he had modeled this suit for her. The smile that had been on her face, the way her eyes had twinkled. He tried not to think of how he wished she were here, to help calm Danny down, to keep Steve off edge, to have her smiling at him in that suggestive manner.

Danny had been peering at him, trying to eye his neck. Steve tried to ignore that too, he assumed Danny was just being annoying again. Until he leaned in going straight for Steve's neck.

Steve waved his hands away immediately. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Is that a clip-on?" Danny shot back.

Was he talking about his tie? How dare he assume that Steve could not tie a tie? "It's not a clip-on," Steve snapped. Danny lunged for the tie again and Steve dodged it. "What'd I just say?"

Danny scowled at him. "Your tie's all jacked up. Can I fix it for you, please?"

Steve looked down again. Oh shit, was it? Steve turned up to Danny and then puffed his chest out so Danny could fix the tie.

Danny tried to pull him closer but Steve resisted. "Come here, come here," Danny ordered and Steve reluctantly obeyed.

"I'm here," he replied. Though he liked it much better when it had been Rowan tying and fixing his tie. It was a little awkward with Danny doing it.

Once Danny was done and he was thanked both Steve and Danny turned forward again and assumed their manly position. Legs spread, hunched over, elbows on knees hands clasped together.

"I thought no one wore a tie in Hawaii," Danny said, teasingly quoting what Steve always said to him whenever Danny wore a tie. That was a good sign.

"No, they don't but, you know, it's a special day. So, I thought I'd wear one. Plus, I'm wearing my dress blues. They'd make me walk the plank if I don't wear a tie with my dress blues," he explained going for a little light teasing himself.

"Why do they call them blues? They're black," Danny asked.

Oh, Danny with the stupid questions. With the questions Steve could never answer.

"I know they're black. I never knew—I don't know. Okay, I don't know," he said and then turned away from Danny.

He absently went about rubbing his sternum again. He had had another twinge when he pulled into the parking lot. Not a big one, but enough to have him breathless in his car for two minutes. The twinges were getting to be less powerful, or he was getting used to them. He wasn't sure which one he should be wishing for.

"Thank you very much for being here. It means a lot. Okay?" Danny said breaking him out of his thoughts.

Steve nodded at Danny. "You're welcome. Besides, you'd do the same for me."

"Any… uh… any news on Rowan?" Danny asked and Steve shook his head.

"I had a twinge on the way in," he said. "But no one's seen her. She hasn't dropped off at anyone's house. Kamekona's still charging me double. Max won't look me in the eye. My mom's livid with me over what happened, and from everything I heard about the state she's in I think all these attempts to travel are destroying her. She may kill herself before I manage to find her."

These were all things Steve had said to Danny already. His worries and his fears. And every time he worried about it, worried about not saving Rowan in time Danny would say the same thing: "She'll be okay, we'll find her."

Today he got. "I know she's mad at you, but I thought, maybe if she were still here, she'd make an appearance."

Oh, the fucking guilt trip. Right there. Right to the heart. How could Danny do him like that?

Steve tried not to scowl and decided to change the topic. "Alright, you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I got a speech all prepared, the one Rowan helped me with. You know, everything's good," he said patting his jacket where the speech was no doubt tucked inside.

"Alright, that's good. Rowan worked hard on that speech with you, I'm sure it'll be awesome," Steve assured him.

"I'll tell you something, though, if they take her away from me, I'm jumping off a cliff, today," Danny said. And Steve believed him.

The problem was Steve wasn't good at this. When Danny got despondent, when Danny got pessimistic and starting talking about throwing himself off cliffs and in front of cars, Rowan would step right up and hit him with some motivational speech and he'd feel better. Steve was always amazed by it, because she never rehearsed, she'd just make it up on the spot.

"Hey, hey, hey. That's not going to happen," was all Steve had to offer. And Danny's weak: Okay, that followed it showed just how effective Steve's little pep talk was.

He clapped a hand to his shoulder and rubbed it for good luck. Steve didn't know what else to say. He just kept repeated: "That's not going to happen," like if he kept saying it over and over it would make it true.

When they were finally allowed into the court room Danny had to sit at the small rinky-dink table at the front and Steve sat in one of the uncomfortable pews at the front. It seemed to be an eternity before the gavel was pounded and the Judge was ready to go.

"In the matter of Williams vs. Edwards, where are we?" she asked.

"Your honor, my client has prepared a statement he'd like to read into the record," the lawyer for Danny said standing to address the judge.

"Go ahead," she said eying Danny expectantly.

The lawyer sat down and Danny stood up. He looked shaken, he looked upset, and Steve could guess why. But Rowan had been working on Danny with this, up until she disappeared from their lives. Danny would be okay.

Danny started talking and Steve couldn't help but feel like they had this in the bag.

"Your Honor, I come before you today," he started and then stopped. He crumpled up the speech that Rowan had worked so hard on and threw it to the side.

Oh shit. He was spiralling. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Detective Williams, why are you littering in my courtroom?" the Judge asked and Steve winced. Fucking hell this was not going well.

"I apologize, I really apologize, Your Honor. But I was prepared to give my speech to Rachel, my ex, but she's not here," he said and then he glanced over his shoulder. It was a look of panic, a look that said he needed someone to make eye contact with to help him calm down.

And then his face went blank. He was staring at something just beyond Steve. Something that seemed to shock him to his very core.

Steve turned, expecting Rachel, but instead it was Rowan. Rowan standing in the open doorway, an encouraging smile on her pale face giving Danny a thumbs up, waving her other hand at him as if trying to urge him onward.

Steve was on his feet in a second but the moment Rowan noticed him she started and began to back away.

"Commander McGarrett please sit down," the judge ordered and Steve reluctantly did as he was told. He was afraid to move, afraid to break the spell that had come over him. That look in her eyes, the utter fear she had upon clapping eyes on him had not been a look that warmed him.

But Rowan stayed where she was by the door until the judge barked: "You're either in the room or out," and then she shut the door behind her and took a back seat. Her eyes left Steve's and locked with Danny's waving him onward once more.

Danny turned back to the judge a new man, but he didn't reach for his speech.

"Can I start over?" he asked the judge. "I know a family court judge is very busy and you're presiding over cases much bigger and more serious than mine, but if you'd allow it, I'd like to start over."

The Judge nodded and Danny took off, his heart warming speech had apparently been memorized but Steve wasn't listening. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Rowan. She looked so thin. So pale. That shark sweater he had bought her hung off her like a bag, her legs were covered in scrapes, scabs and sand. He could see the angry red burns trailing up her arms and legs. She looked homeless and she seemed to realize that people were staring at her.

Steve couldn't stand being this close to her and not tackling her to the ground. Not when she was a flight risk. Not when she could blink right out of the room before he could stop her. Not when he was so desperate to feel the warmth of her skin under his palms he was practically burning up.

He stood just as the Judge asked Danny: "Detective, weren't you recently shot in the presence of your daughter?"

He took one step towards Rowan and she went ramrod straight in her seat. Those blue eyes wide and on him like she knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Commander McGarret!" The Judge snapped and he turned around again.

"What?" he asked. "Oh, the shooting? I can explain that, Your Honor."

"Commander McGarrett, this is not your forum. And quite frankly that woman is terrified of you. I'm asking you to leave her alone," the Judge ordered.

Steve nearly snapped at her. He wanted to shout that Rowan was his… thing… and he had every right to trap her and make her stay with him. The phone in his hand buzzed, the contact for the Governor flashed on his screen.

"Yes your Honor, I know that," he said instead. His head whipping back and forth between Danny who was trying to signal him, his phone in his hand and the angry Judge sitting before him. "But Williams doesn't just work for me he's my friend. He's my close friend and I've seen him with his daughter. He's a great father. He's actually the kind of father we all wish we had. And Rowan's a… friend… who… uh…"

He glanced back down at his phone. He couldn't ignore a call from the Governor. Danny's face was imploring him to do something but he didn't know what. He shot a glace back to Rowan and found her out of her seat and edging back towards the door that same fearful look on her face as before.

"Don't you fucking move!" he snapped to her pointing a stern finger in her direction.

He turned back to the Judge. "I'm sorry, I've got to take this call," he said.

"Steve," Danny whispered nodding towards the door. He turned back to Rowan in time to see the door shut behind her.

She had fucking run again.

He ran out of the room, connecting the call at the same time. It was simple summons to the Governor's office for a discrete case, he hung it up as quickly as he answered it. He scanned the halls for any sign of Rowan. She was a red head with a blonde fade and in a grey shark sweater. How fucking hard could she be to find?

It took a several quick scans to spot her rushing out of one of the doors. He sprinted after her trying to catch up but she had one hell of a lead. By the time he got outside he couldn't spot her anywhere. He was going to do a search of the area, find her before she got away when the tightness in his chest attacked him.

It was so sudden that it took him to his knees immediately. He slid against the pavement, scrapped his knees, and tore his pants. His phone clattered out of his hand so he could grip his chest. The breath was knocked out of his body and spots formed in front of his eyes. People gathered around him to ask if he was alright, but he wasn't.

The pain left his chest not seconds after it started but it didn't matter. Rowan was already gone.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

Rowan resurfaced coughing and sputtering. Her legs and arms were tired, burning from her most recent wade through the void. It was getting harder to move through it, even harder to cross the barriers. Probably because the anger had been siphoned out of her leaving her with nothing else except sorrow and grief.

She had begun to mourn.

Mourn the life she left behind. Mourn the life here she'd never have. What was she going to do? She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. She was alone with no way to get a job, no money and at this point no will to live.

She could let herself float away no one would miss her, no one would find her.

One mouthful of salt water changed her mind, kicked that will to live into overdrive. She scanned the horizons and spotted land behind her, a good 200m away. Eight lengths max, she could do this.

As she got closer she could see that she was swimming towards some sort of port. She could see shipping containers and warehouses. That was new. Usually when she found herself in the water it was just off of the beach that doubled as Steve's backyard.

Still she breast stroked towards the port. The waves helping her progress which was great because she was dead tired. By the time she had found somewhere to climb out it was raining. She hadn't eaten yet today. She hadn't slept more than four hours in the last two days. She was light headed and everything hurt, both physically and emotionally.

She found an empty doorway and set herself down on the stoop. She was under an overhang which only meant that she wasn't getting anymore wet. She went about rubbing the soreness out of her joints and muscles but it didn't work. Her hands hurt too, there were fresh burns on her arms from her last attempt to travel. She just wanted to lean back against the door and sleep. Just for a moment.

But the second her eyes closed she thought about Steve. About how handsome he looked in those dress blues she had convinced him to wear. She thought when she got dropped in that tree in front of the court house that morning that it meant she was thinking about Danny and how he'd need her support for whatever vile things his ex threw at him. But she knew, the second she saw Steve in that suit, that he was really what she wanted to see. And that was ridiculous. He didn't want to see her, and he looked livid upon noticing her in the back.

He had demanded she stay, probably to tell her not to go back to the house, not to take things he had bought for her as they weren't for her anymore, to tell her to stop dropping in on his life. She wasn't a part of it anymore and she should leave him and his friends alone. And she couldn't bear to hear all of that again.

She was almost asleep, lulled by the sound of the water pinging on the roof above her and the crash of the surf. But then the door behind her opened up.

Rowan jumped up to her feet despite how sore she was. Her legs protested and wobbled which had her stumbling out into the rain. Her eyes lowered away from the person, embarrassed to be caught in this state.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I'll move."

"No, wait, you're soaked," a voice called out. "Come inside it'll be warmer."

Rowan made the mistake of turning. She meant to tell this person that it was alright, she didn't need their charity, but her heart stopped the second her eyes connected with the figure in the doorway. Her body was ill equipped for the dizzy spell that came over her. She wasn't strong enough to keep herself in a standing position as the world swayed around her. The man put a hand out to steady her, or maybe to pull her inside, she wasn't sure. But as soon as he touched her the visions started. They flashed through her head, images of dead prostitutes, captured Politicians and assault helicopters. Her knees buckled out from under her and she hit the ground. She wasn't even strong enough to keep herself upright.

As soon as she was in a lying down position her exhaustion took over. Her eyes slowly began to close even though she knew she needed to stay awake. The last thing she saw was Wo Fat's emotionless face hovering over her.

H5O-H5O-H5O- H5O

She was skin and bones. Starved. He wasn't sure if it was purposely or not. She was soaking wet, he'd say from the rain but he had found seaweed in her hair and hanging from her shark sweater when he picked her up. She had been in the ocean. He had stripped her of her stupid shark sweater to wrap her in his suit blazer simply to get some sort of warmth into her. Her shoulder blades were sporting deep purple bruises that he was sure spread down her back. Her arms were covered in second degree burn scabs, some more fresh than others. Upon further inspection he found more on her legs.

At this point he was certain she had been tortured.

Wo Fat had never been accused of caring for someone. He had no family. No friends. No one that could be used against him. He didn't act out of the kindness of his heart. He was often told he didn't have a heart. So what had prompted him to pick up the girl who had dropped unconscious at his feet? He couldn't answer that, but he had.

Electricity travelled up his arms when he made contact with her. Static electricity kept stinging him every time he touched her after that. He had taken her to his town car and put her in the back. He expected her to have awoken by now but she was still out. And with deep black sunken bags under her eyes he had a feeling she was too exhausted to wake up. But the more injuries he catalogued the more he wanted her to wake up. So he could feed her and maybe find out who had grabbed her and done this to her… so he could break their legs.

She was against him. Her head on his shoulder as they sat in the back and his driver took them back to the hotel. She'd need a shower too. She smelt of charred hair and dry ice, of salt and that smell after a storm hit. She'd need to come up to his hotel room with him, get her in a bed, get her some food, and get her cleaned up. But how was he going to get her into his hotel room? He could go around back? No. He was illusive enough as is. And he didn't want anyone to alert authorities of his presence. Five-0 and Steve McGarrett couldn't know he was back on the island.

Beside him the girl began to stir, a string of unintelligible words tumbled out of her mouth followed by a groan and then her head falling into his lap. Wo Fat froze, his arms raising up not sure where to go or where to rest them now. Her arms wrapped around one of his legs, like she was cuddling with him, but that was something he wasn't used to.

"Don't make me go," she whispered, her voice light and airy against his knee. "Let me stay."

He slowly lowered his arms, one resting casually over her chest to keep her from rolling off the seat. She finally felt warm against his fingertips. But even with light probing he could feel her ribs, could count each jutting protrusion. Definitely starved.

"You can stay with me for as long as you want," he told her. Though he had a feeling she'd be staying longer than that.

"I love you," she breathed out and for a moment a frown creased his face. He knew then she thought he was someone else.

And he wanted to know who.