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AvalonReeseFanfics

A/N: Happy Halloween you guys! Today I'm Wednesday Addams, (Wednesday on Wednesday) what are you guys dressed up as? Well, we defnitely made it to 195 reviews so here's your reward! There's a lot I needed to cover in this chapter so it's kinda sorta, 16 pages long! I tried to not leave this one on a cliffhanger, but apparently you guys have thought all of my chapters ended on cliffhangers. Hopefully you guys like how this chapter ends. Let me tell you, this is where the ANGST is gonna start. It's gonna get really angsty up in the story. And I'd like to say it's gonna end in a few chapters but it's basically gonna go on until I get to the end of season 5 (there will be different reasons for the angst so don't worry about that). Sorry in advance. But hey! We get to have a third update! So I'll see you on Friday!

Chapter 27

When Rowan made her way down the stairs she was in her favourite pair of khaki green shorts and a white flowing shirt that was just sheer enough to see the color of her bra and just thick enough to make people take a second look to make sure that was the color they were seeing. It was an outfit she carefully picked, to show Steve what he had been missing out on and because it showed the most amount of scabs she had cultivated from all her travels into the void. Steve's smile widened upon seeing her downstairs and she noted that while a mug of tea and a stack of toast was waiting for her, Max was not.

"He had to go back to work," Steve answered before she asked and Rowan was forced to stop looking around and focus her attention back to him. Fuck he was so handsome. Why the hell was he so handsome in his cotton blue tee shirt and white cargo pants? Why couldn't he look ridiculous like anyone else who tried to pull that look off? Fuck him and his muscles straining through the shirt, and those tattoos on his biceps and that stupid puppy dog look on his face.

"You said you wanted to talk to me?" she said as she arranged herself in the arm chair and as far away from Steve as she could manage.

For a moment he looked crushed. He was clearly saving a seat on the couch for her. He had put food and tea out for her, but Rowan didn't think she could stomach anything at this point. When she didn't move Steve sighed and moved himself so he was sitting on the side of the couch that was closest to her.

"Yes, I think we need to talk about what happened and what was said," he replied.

"As I recall you were the only one shouting hurtful things," she reminded him and that old anger resurfaced. Yes, good, she could use that to her advantage. Remember to be mad at him. Remember how hurtful and mean he was. Don't fall for him. Don't fall for his apology.

Steve had the good grace to look ashamed. "Yes. I know," he replied. "I was hoping to explain what had happened."

"I know what happened," Rowan snapped. "You got mad at me for not listening, for putting myself in danger, and you said you didn't want to deal with me anymore and I needed to go home."

"Yes, Rowan, I know what I said. But that is not why I said it," Steve snapped back. She pinned him with a dry glare and he relented. "Okay. It's part of why I said it but it's not the whole reason."

Rowan just stared at him, what the hell was he saying to her? She watched Steve take a deep breath and then start again.

"Look, I never should have said those things to you. I was just scared and upset. Catherine and I had a huge argument about you. You were blinking out of my life and I didn't… want you to. So when you told me you could do it at will I panicked," he explained. He was purposely not looking at her. He was looking everywhere but.

All she heard in that sentence was that he didn't want her to leave. Was Steve talking to her about his… feelings?

"I wasn't blinking to leave you. I blinked to save Chin, there's a big difference," Rowan reminded him.

"But could you use it to get home?" he asked, his voice sounding hollow.

"Clearly not, because I've been trying for about a week and yet somehow I'm still here," she cried. Steve's blue eyes came back up to meet hers and she found that she was disastrously close to crying.

"You told me to leave, Steve," she reminded him and he winced and went back to avoiding her eyes again. "I had no one else. Nowhere to go. No way to get a job. And now I have no way to get home. Without you, I don't have anything. And that's pretty fucking scary to me."

Steve stared at her, his vivid blue eyes linked with hers. There was a grimness about him. A sort of determination she didn't recognize.

"I'm am truly sorry for what I said to you, Ro," he whispered to her. "I regretted those words the second they came out, but I was trying to save myself from getting hurt again. The fact of the matter is that everyone I care about leaves. And I have grown to care for you… very much. Having some unknown force trying to drag you back was scary enough for me. When you could do it at will all I saw was you leaving for real, just like everyone else. And I didn't want that, not when I was so attached to you. So I pushed you away before you could hurt me."

"That doesn't make it okay, Steve," she replied. She was trying so hard to stay angry. But he was baring his heart to her. He didn't want her to leave him. He cared about her.

"I know, I know," he admitted. "I have a long way to make it up to you, I do. But I just want you to know that I want you stay. With me. I don't care what Catherine says. I don't care what she does. You're staying with me, I'm never letting you go again, do you understand me?"

Rowan stared at him. She could feel herself slipping. Falling back into that crush, plunging even deeper than that. He hadn't flat out said that he liked her in the same way she liked him. In fact she was pretty sure she had just been friendzoned. But he cared. He cared about her. He didn't want her to leave. And he wasn't going to let Catherine make her go. It filled her with a hope she couldn't afford to have

"Yes," she whispered. "Thank you."

Steve's smile set her heart racing again. God she was so weak. Why couldn't she say no to him? WHY?

"Okay, so that's out of the way. Why don't you tell me what you got up to this week?" he asked.

"I spent most of it trying to get home," she replied.

"Yes, I know," he shot back. His hand went to his chest, rubbing the center of it absently as if it was suddenly hurting him. "I felt it, you know. Every single time you tried to leave, I felt it."

Rowan blinked her eyes. "You did? Really?" she asked. She longed to reach out and grab his hand, but luckily she had placed herself far enough away from him that she couldn't. He wasn't hers to have, he could be her friend and her roommate but he'd never love her. "I didn't know that. What does it feel like?"

"Uh, like someone has grabbed my heart and is squeezing it," he answered her absently. "It's not important though."

Rowan couldn't agree less. It was very important. She had no idea that she was causing Steve that much pain. And she was very sorry for doing so. She had been under the impression that the only person being affected by her constant flickering in the void was herself. She mentally promised herself that she'd wouldn't try to go home anymore, that she'd never hurt Steve in that way ever again.

"That wasn't all you did though," Steve reminded her. "You stopped off at Kamekona's truck, at Max's and at my mother's. And then you vanished for two days. Where were you for those two days, Rowan?"

Rowan frowned. She didn't want to tell Steve where she was. She didn't want to tell him who she had bumped into. Especially since she felt like she sort of owed him. As a blood thirsty murderer he didn't need to take her in when she had collapsed in front of him. He could have left her there. Shot her for seeing his face. Instead he took her somewhere warm, tried to feed her, and tried to find out what happened to her. Other than the other Five-0s, this was the first friend she had kind of made. Even if he had locked her in his hotel room and told her she wasn't allowed to leave. She needed a cover story.

Instead of answering she said: "You heard about all of that?"

"Yes, Rowan. They all told me you came to them. You scared Kamekona half to death he's had his contacts on the island looking out for you. He lectured me for two days straight and charges me double at the truck now. Max won't look me in the eye. My mother practically spanked me she was so angry," he growled. And Rowan blushed and avoided his eyes.

"If it makes you feel better, that wasn't why I went to them, to get you in trouble I mean," she whispered. "It's where I got dropped."

"Dropped?" he asked his eye brows furrowing together.

"Yes. I couldn't find my way home, remember? I was getting lost, it was hard to move, sometimes I'd come tumbling out of the void. Usually I landed in the surf outside your place. Other times it dropped me in other places. Once on the shore right by Kamekona's truck. Outside Max's apartment when he was just getting home and at one point right in Doris' living room. I have to pay her back for the coffee table I broke," she explained. "It also dropped me in a tree outside the court house on the day of Danny's hearing."

Steve nodded as it explained a few things and maybe it did. "And the two days where you weren't staying with someone? You couldn't have been in the void for a whole two days, and you didn't try to travel so where were you?"

Rowan sighed. She was going to have to lie. "Promise not to freak out?" she asked. When Steve nodded she hung her head quite dramatically and said: "I kinda just slept out on the beach."

"You did what?!" Steve thundered and Rowan tried not to laugh about it. He looked so stricken by the thought of her out alone on a beach.

"Steve you promised," she chided him trying not to grin.

"Okay, yes fine. But that was stupid. Jesus Rowan, that was dangerous. You could have just come here," he snapped.

"I didn't know that Steve," she whispered. "I didn't know you were looking for me. I didn't know you wanted me back. I thought I was doing as you asked."

Steve sighed at her. He had told her over and over that he didn't mean it. It was cruel of her to keep pressing it, but it she couldn't help it. Sorry or not, he said those hurtful things she couldn't ignore anymore.

"Please eat something," he murmured. Clearly not trying to argue with her. She reached out for a slice of toast and once she put it to her lips he added: "I've said sorry. How many more times are you gonna make me I say it?"

"Those words hurt, Steve," she reminded him around the mouthful of toast she had just taken in. "It'll take me some time to get over that. I know you're sorry and that helps, it does. But I still hear them repeating in my head over and over, and they still hurt."

Steve avoided her eyes. He looked so forlorn that she felt the need to add: "They hurt so much because… well… I care a great deal about you too. When you said I wasn't any use, that my knowledge didn't really help anyone, I got well… nervous. I'm so far from home, to make myself feel better I told myself that I was here to make a difference and when you told me I wasn't it made me wonder why I was even here. Add the fact that Catherine had just come back and you went from obsessing over everything I did to tossing me aside like rubbish, it made me feel even worse. That was very hurtful to my pride, you know."

Steve's head whipped up. If Rowan had been looking at him she would have seen a feeling akin to hope flash in his eyes. She'd have noticed that his eyes began caressing her features almost softly or appreciatively, but as she kept her eyes on the foot he kept tapping in his impatience, which had gotten a beat quicker after her confession, she didn't notice.

In fact, she just kept plowing onward. As if unable to stop. She just kept talking in the hopes of eventually having him stop her.

"I really only rush off into danger to help you," she continued. "I know your friends mean a lot to you, and I'm very fond of them too, so when the opportunity arose to help one of them, I took it. There's not much I can do to help you Steve. I'm not a cop, I'm not trained in anything, and we probably shouldn't trust me with a gun. But I have this knowledge you don't want to use so I figured I'd use it anyway… especially if it kept you from getting hurt, both physically and emotionally."

She took a bite of toast to stop her mouth from moving and immediately Steve moved. He went from sitting on the couch to sitting beside her perched on the arm of the chair. His hand went into her hair. His mouth opened to tell her something, her heart pounding wondering what words were going to fall from those perfectly kissable lips.

And then his phone rang.

Rowan cursed the Hawaii Five-0 gods. Did he have to get a phone call now? Steve didn't seem too pleased about it himself, but he excused himself to take the phone call.

It was work, of course. And judging by his tone they were calling him to come back. They probably had a big break or something. Regardless, when he came back in the moment was gone and whatever he was going to say to her was lost forever.

"That was Chin, he's got something for me," he said. "It's a big case, very important."

"I know," Rowan said, because it was true.

"I... uh… I know you're not feeling well, but, I've got to go. I know if I do I'm just going to worry about you," he told her.

"Not conducive to a productive day, I presume," she said with a teasing smirk on her face. She knew what he was going to say what he was going to ask.

"Would you feel up to coming with me?" he asked.

"Would I be getting my vest?" she asked. She hadn't had to wear it in a while, and it had the most wonderful bedazzling she wanted to show him.

"I'm going to try to make sure you don't need it," he answered.

Rowan shrugged. "Alright. If it'll make you feel better I'll come with you," she said.

The smile that lit up his face put butterflies into her stomach. Oh, why did she even bother trying? She'd never get over Steve McGarrett.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Happy was not enough to describe the feeling he had when Rowan agreed to come to work with him. Excited to have her with him again and relieved that he wouldn't be leaving her all alone. He just had this feeling that everything was right in his world. This was where he was meant to be. And after that conversation they had just had he was more than certain that things would go his way. Things were going to work out. Walking into Iolana Palace with Rowan beside him, just felt right.

Though it was probably more just having Rowan by his side that was making him feel that way.

Steve hadn't been expecting the responses of his teammates though. She walked through the door to their office, just behind Steve, and Kono had squealed loudly and rushed her. He had never seen Kono that excited to anyone that wasn't Adam or Chin. Chin was next to hug her, even though he had seen her last night, he had been too nervous to step in between Steve and Rowan at that time.

Danny was next pulling her into an embrace so tight it rivaled the strongest of pythons and telling her that if she tried to run off like that again he'd arrest her himself. Rowan had just laughed and set Steve's blood on fire at the same time.

Already she was a little more vibrant and a little fuller than before. She was still skin and bones, she was still dangerously ill, but the smile on her face made her look a little bit more human than before. And she seemed to be glowing, which was great to see after worrying about her for so long.

Chin dove straight into the investigation while Steve got Rowan a chair to sit in. She was still tired, still not able to stand for too long. He had forced her to eat something before coming here of course, she ate very little and that had worried him, but he'd have time to fatten her up again.

"So, I've been checking Amy's time line and it doesn't add up," Chin told them.

"Oh, you don't say," Danny sighed sarcastically. No one in the room was surprised. Not even Rowan.

"Mm-hm. She said she picked up Serena Andrews from the Liki Tiki Lounge at nine fifteen. But when I ran her credit cards she was having drinks at another place called the Ocean Lounge."

"By herself?" Steve asked.

"No. She bought two rounds," Chin replied. "Two drinks each time."

"Who was she with?" Danny asked.

"The black secretary," Rowan answered from her chair.

They all turned to her at that point but it was Steve who asked: "Is she right?"

"Yes, Amy was with Josh Lowry, the congressman's press secretary. He confirmed it. They were having a strategy session. He also confirmed that they didn't leave the place together. According to a bartender I spoke to, she left with an unknown male companion," Chin replied.

Steve smiled down at her, pride brimming over, practically glowing on his face while Rowan smiled back at them. Fuck. This all just felt so right. How the hell had he convinced himself he didn't need her?

"Hot Damn, do you know where the congressman is?" Danny asked.

Rowan actually thought about it for a minute. "Uh… no. Not by name. I think it's warehouse but I don't know where," she replied.

"Why would he go there?" Chin asked.

"Hiding out maybe?" Danny asked.

"No, he was kidnapped," Rowan replied and then all eyes turned to her. She stared up at them as they all stared down at her. "What?"

"Kidnapped?" Steve echoed. "What are you talking about?"

"I unno. Is this not the dead prostitute and kidnapped politician episode? The one where the governor had people following you guys and was acting like a douche? I could have sworn that was this one," she replied.

Well, it wasn't an episode to them, but that sure as hell was what happened. So their congressman was kidnapped? They needed more proof other than Rowan's knowledge.

"If he was kidnapped, who took him and why?" Danny asked.

"Oh I don't know why but I know…" Rowan started and then trailed off. She had suddenly gone wide eyed and silent. Steve put a hand to her shoulder but she didn't jerk out of it.

"Rowan?" he asked, softly pushing on her shoulder. She turned her face up to him, fear apparent on her features.

"You're not going to like this," she whispered.

"Ro? Who took the congressman?" Steve asked her more sternly.

"Your arch nemesis," she answered. Steve was glaring at her now. Why was she being purposely obtuse?

"I don't have an arch nemesis," he snapped.

"You do. And I don't mean Danny," Rowan argued and Steve sighed. The only person he could consider any sort of nemesis was Wo Fat and that could not be what was happening right now.

"Oy! I am not his nemesis!" Danny cried. And Rowan nodded.

"True, you're more like his wife," she conceded. This earned her a chuckle from Chin and a pair of exasperated groans from Danny and Steve. Oh, the old married joke, they never got tired of that one… NOT!

"Rowan!" Steve snapped and Rowan groaned herself.

"It's Wo Fat! Okay. I'm like 75% certain it's Wo Fat!" she told them and Steve frowned. No. it couldn't be. Rowan took in all the shocked stares she was getting before slouching in her seat. "Fine. Don't believe me, just find the guy that woman left with, that'll prove I'm right."

"She's right, we need a positive ID on that companion ASAP," Steve agreed just as Kono came rushing back into the room.

"We got footage from an ATM across the street," she said, playing with the computer. "Thing is, I don't think there's a clear shot of the exit."

"Not so nice," Danny replied, always having a smart comeback, even when the situation didn't call for it. Steve noted that he hadn't removed his hand from Rowan's shoulder. He did so then before anyone could notice, noting that Rowan shot him a glance as he did so. Did he read disappointment on her features?

"Okay, easy," Kono snapped at Danny. "What it did give us was a shot of a police cruiser pulling someone over near the club entrance."

"Huh, we have a dashboard cam?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, we have a dashboard cam," Kono replied. Kono began typing away at the computer while the other's waited. "And I have footage coming through right now."

Steve found himself playing with Rowan's hair. He couldn't help it. He had missed it. He had missed everything about her. Fuck. Why had he told Catherine that they were fine? He wanted to believe they were but… maybe they weren't.

The footage came up and Amy came out almost immediately with an Asian looking man in a suit.

"That's Amy. Freeze, Kono. Freeze that and push in," he ordered. He had just got a glimpse but he knew, he knew already that Rowan was right.

Still, Kono did as she was told. The frame was frozen and she pushed in on the man's face. It was Wo Fat's cold eyes staring back at them.

They didn't even get to turn back to Rowan before the: "I told you so," dropped from her lips.

Steve turned back to her and saw that her eyes were dropped down, avoiding Wo Fats. Like the man made her uncomfortable. Like she was guilty or something. For a brief moment Steve wondered if Rowan had met him before but shook his head. How could she? He had met her after Wo Fat had escaped from prison. She had never needed to know about him before this.

But she was hiding something. Avoiding something. Steve wanted to know what but he didn't want to ask now. Not in front of everyone. Not when he was still trying to pave the road between them. Not when he could look into her eyes and see that she still didn't quite trust him anymore.

He didn't have time to worry about Rowan's worrying response to Wo Fat's picture. He had to figure out why Amy seemed to know one of Hawaii's most dangerous criminals.

"He's using Amy Davidson to set up Congressman Freed," Steve breathed out.

"Setting him up for what?" Kono asked.

"Think about it," Danny said to her. "Who stands to gain if Congressman Freed takes a hard fall?"

"His opponent, Brad Powers," Kono replied.

"Wo Fat sees this special election as an opening," Chin explained. "He's on the run, he's got no resources. What better way to rebuild your empire than to buy a politician?"

"He's got plenty of resources," Rowan muttered and Steve's eyes found her again.

"Did you have another vision?" he asked her, though she didn't seem to be coming off of one of those. Rowan blinked her eyes before nodding but Steve didn't believe her. She was lying to him. Why?

"Okay. So, by discrediting Freed, Powers definitely gets the Senate seat," Danny said trying to breeze past whatever was going on between Steve and Rowan.

"And Wo Fat gets a friend in Washington," Kono finished for him.

"Quid pro quo," Danny agreed.

Steve wasn't having this. He wasn't having any of this. "Not on our watch," he snarled being sure to be staring into Rowan's eyes as he said it.

He had no idea what was going on with her. But she had been gone for a week and for two of those days she was unattended. A girl in her position would have needed papers to get off the island, a fake passport, a way to make money. He didn't think she would, or could for that matter, but if she were really desperate to get away from Hawaii and him she might have gone to the underworld for some help. Which was why Kamekona had his friends on the lookout for someone of her description. But none of them had turned her up. She either hadn't gone to them or she went to someone with more… connections.

If she had any ties to Wo Fat, had met him briefly as she tried to jump realities, they were going to be cut, burned and made sure to never be reattached again.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

They burst into the campaign office startling the poor woman out of her seat.

"Where is he?" Steve asked. He wasn't yelling or shouting, but the tone of his voice betrayed just how angry he was. And just how serious.

Rowan loved watching him scare people.

The poor woman, Amy, was surprised. She tried to hide her fear but if Rowan could spot it Steve already had and knew how to exploit it. "Excuse me?" she asked

Danny carefully shut the door behind Rowan who was looking for a chair to sit down. She was supposed to be in the main office drinking coffee and eating donuts with the press secretary but she had snuck in to watch the show, as it were, and she wanted to be sitting and pretending to be too tired when Steve noticed her inside.

"Wo Fat, where is he?" Steve repeated, this time his voice was louder. That tone of anger and seriousness doubled with the octave. "You left the bar with him."

"Okay, you need to leave," she said. Oh, wrong answer.

"I don't think you understand who you're dealing with," Steve continued but Amy shouted over him.

"No, I said, you need to leave!" she repeated.

"Everything you've said up until this point is a lie," Danny was saying when Rowan got one of her dizzy spells.

It lasted only a second but it was just enough. "She's wearing a wire," she breathed out and all eyes turned on her.

"What are you doing in here?" Steve asked his eyes finally finding her just as Danny said: "She's wearing a what?"

Rowan shushed them both. "Oh, you know, that is such a wonderful blouse!" she cried, miming for Amy to come over to her. Though the woman looked super confused she did as she was told. Once she did, Rowan undid a few buttons to reveal the mic.

Both Steve and Danny stayed absolutely silent just staring at it. Well that explained the lies.

"You know, I should take a picture of this for Oz, he's always treating me to nice things like this. Does anyone have a mint? I swear this juice cleanse is wreaking havoc on my breath," she continued on.

She wasn't handed a mint, but a candy. The kind with crinkling wrapping paper. She went about ripping the candy apart all while trying to position poor Amy a certain way in the room. She popped the candy in her mouth and then put the wrapper to the mic and began rubbing it.

"What are you doing?" Danny hissed.

"I'm creating static," Rowan hissed back. "You guys talk as quietly as you can I'll be the interference. We also need to keep her away from windows. I'm more than 60% certain she's gonna get shot."

Amy yelped, nothing but a small strangled sound that escaped from the back of her throat.

"I'm sorry," she breathed out to them. "I did it because he said he was gonna kill me."

"Listen to me, where is he keeping the congressman hostage?" Steve asked, his voice also low, barely even audible over the crinkling noise that Rowan was making.

She kept eyeing that window as if she'd know when the bullet was coming. As if she'd be able to see it coming.

"I don't know," Amy cried. "I really don't know."

It was then that Steve saw something out the window. Rowan didn't know what but the look in his eyes told her enough. She tackled Amy just as the gunshot echoed and the class crashed.

Steve and Danny ducked. Steve behind the desk, Danny by the window. Danny glanced out but saw nothing.

"I don't see him Steve," was the confirmation.

Steve looked back, his eyes find Rowan's who was still where she fell… on top of the half shirtless Amy.

"Stay here," he said to her and then he and Danny left. As soon as they were gone, Rowan helped Amy up and to a crawling position so they could crawl out into the main office. Because she wasn't about to stay in a cramped space with bullets flying everywhere.

"You saved my life," Amy said to her. "How did you know about the wire?"

Rowan thought about her answer very carefully before saying: "I watch and read a lot of murder mysteries."

Really, how else was she going to explain it?

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Riding with Rowan in the front again had put a grin on Steve's face as bright as the sun, or at least it did when he was driving her to the Palace. On the way to the Congressman's office, not so much.

It wasn't because Danny had to sit in the back and had sulked over not being able to ride shotgun because when Danny thought Steve wasn't looking he smiled at the back of Rowan's head, happy that she was back too. It didn't even have anything to that with the fact that they were heading straight into what would most likely be an open shoot out with Wo Fat. It had everything to do with what Rowan did after a sniper had tried to kill Amy Davidson.

She had shown up in the road behind Danny after the car the sniper had been driving had smashed into another parked car. The one Steve had just been standing in front of. If he hadn't jumped out of the way he would have been smashed. Steve hadn't noticed Rowan in the street until Danny and Steve had confirmed that the man was dead and Danny was onto the phone with Chin asking him to trace a phone call coming in on the man's phone.

"Oh, is he dead?" came from behind him and Steve whirled around.

"Ro? What are you doing out here?" he cried.

"Well I came to see if you're okay. You had to bounce off another car's windshield to avoid that car, didn't you?" she asked. "I'm sure that hurt."

"I'm fine," he shrugged off and then watched her ease a little closer to the dead man in the car. Purposely keeping him in-between her and the wreckage of the car, standing on tippy toes to see over his shoulder. She made a strange noise before she dropped back to the flat of her feet and moved away. A sort of gagging sound, but he had never heard her make it before… not while he was on cases anyway.

"Oh, what a shame. He was nice," he heard her whisper and suddenly Steve was angry again.

"Excuse me?" he thundered turning around to face her fully. "Do you know him?"

Rowan turned her widened eyes up to Steve. "No, why would you think that?"

"Because you just said he was nice," Steve echoed. "How would you know that? How do you know one of Wo Fat's men?"

"I had a vision."

"About his life?" Steve cried. "That is somehow pertinent to this case?"

"Uh… yes?" Rowan replied and that was when Steve knew she was lying to him.

She knew one of Wo Fat's men. Which meant she, to some extent, knew Wo Fat, or had at least come in contact with him. Call Steve paranoid if you wanted, but he was certain Rowan knew more than she was letting on. He wouldn't have put it past Wo Fat to have turned Rowan against him.

But then Rowan turned that giant grin on him and he began to doubt himself. She genuinely seemed so happy to be back with him. His heart beat skipped a few times whenever he saw that smile.

He thought about how it felt sitting on that couch pouring his heart out to her, trying to make her understand just how badly that whole week had affected him. How happy he was to hear she felt the same way.

He had been about to tell her more. Tell her how he had started to feel. How he might have started to actually… like her like her. He was certain she felt the same way. She had admitted she was upset when Catherine came back, what else would that be? It was what he'd do afterwards that had him stumped.

It shocked even him, but Steve was contemplating breaking things off with Catherine. It wasn't fair to Rowan or Catherine. It wasn't either of their faults that he was this conflicted. But if he was being completely honest with himself, he had been leaning towards Rowan for a while now.

He was going to interrogate Rowan further. Or tell her he was going to take her out to dinner that night. Somewhere nice so he could propose trying out dating. But Chin had traced the phone number that was ringing the dead man in the car. They knew where Wo Fat was, and they needed to get there fast.

He had Rowan with him in the car. In the passenger seat. Smiling up at him. He smiling down at her. That feeling of rightness still sitting in chest. She was only supposed to go as far as coming with them to the helicopter. He had no intention of taking her with them. Rowan had other ideas.

Steve and Danny were getting their vests on, he didn't even noticed Rowan was getting hers until something was blinding him. Rowan had a big grin on her face and Steve could see why. Pierce was winking at him in big pink diamonds, blue glittery dolphins jumped out of sea green diamond waves and a purple jewel butterfly was taking flight on her shoulder.

"What the hell did you do to that vest?" Danny had asked. He was as offended as Steve was.

Stupid Rowan making their perfectly good bullet proof vests girly.

Not to mention she was a fucking glowing target, a bad guy would be able to spot her from space if the light hit her the right way. But her smile was so cute, and her blue eyes were so clear that he couldn't find it in his heart to tell her just how badly she had fucked up. He'd just have to keep her away from all the action and as far away from the ruthless Wo Fat as possible.

"Grace and I made some changes," she said doing a little twirl. "What do you think?"

"I think you're a walking target," Danny snapped.

Steve shook his head. He couldn't bear to crush her, not when they were on such rocky terms as is. "It's a good thing you're staying back. But it looks super cute."

"Staying back?" Rowan echoed.

"You can't go with us," Steve told her making his way to the cockpit. He'd be flying of course. Regardless of how much Danny hated it when Steve took them up in the air. Danny was fiddling with this gun, getting the strap ready so it wouldn't drop while he was shooting or if he had to let go.

"Yes I can, you need me," she said jabbing her finger into his chest. "I'm the only one who knows where the Congressman is."

"We know where he is, Rowan," Danny reminded her.

"No, you know what building he was in, but he's not there anymore. He's escaped and Wo Fat's chasing him. He gets an ATV and shoots him. If we go now and we go fast we may stop the shooting," she told them.

She had had one of her dizzy visions when he wasn't paying attention. Probably while they were driving. Maybe after the phone call when she had been worryingly quiet. Still, this was one of the things that had driven a wedge between them. Steve's reluctance to act on her tips.

He stared down at her, those big blue eyes blinking up at him, begging him to trust her. This was where he could prove that he had changed. That he believed her. That he didn't mean a single one of those horrible things he said to her seven nights ago.

"Alright, you can come with me, but so help me Rowan if you don't listen to me. If something happens because of you, you're never coming with me again, you got me?!" he asked pointing a finger into her face.

The smile alone was going to be worth the worry. But it was the hug he got that sealed the deal.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan threw herself forward, one hand on Steve's shoulder, the other hand pointing forward.

"That way!" she screamed into the mic, trying to be heard over the beating of the blades. Steve winced and she lowered her voice. "The ridge is that way."

"What did I tell you?" Steve said instead of correcting his flight path. "Rowan. What did I say? Stay in your seat. Stay buckled in!"

"But the ridge!" she complained.

"Sit down!" Steve thundered.

She was going to sit down of her own accord, Danny didn't need to reach out, grab the back of her vest and tug her back to her seat. But he did so anyway. But once she was seated she didn't actually buckle herself in. She just pretended to.

She felt the shift in the aircraft as Steve changed the direction heading towards the ridge. They could already make out movement on it. Rowan knew that Steve was going for the surprise tactic but they really needed to get their fast.

The helicopter rose up above the ridge and Danny, who was already hanging out of the open door, gun ready, opened fire. They were just in time to stop Wo Fat from finishing off the congressman.

He looked different from when Rowan had last seen him. He was in a muted blue dress shirt and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up, rifle in hand. He looked every bit the cold-blooded killer she knew him to be. Nothing like the reserved but still warm man who had let her stay in his hotel room and ordered her food.

She shook her head. Wo Fat was the enemy, he was the cause of almost all of Steve's hurting. He'd do despicable things. He'd torture Steve at one point. There was no changing that plot line to a positive no matter what she tried.

Danny used his own gun to push Wo Fat back, forcing him to take cover behind the ATV Rowan knew he had killed a man to get. Danny continued to shoot until Wo Fat stopped trying to shoot them back. Congressman Freed was standing, still favouring his injured shoulder, trying to reach the helicopter Steve was trying to lower.

Danny stopped shooting to try and help the congressman, and Wo Fat chose that time to stand up from behind the ATV and open fire again. Steve tried to twist the helicopter so it would absorb some of the bullets, but the congressman slipped and so did Rowan, right out of her seat. Still the bullets grazed off, pinging as they ricocheted, cracking the windshield by Steve's head.

They needed to get out of there.

Rowan disregarded Steve's direct order, she threw herself forward and at Danny. As he continued to lay suppressive fire, Rowan grabbed the Congressman's hand and began to help him. She heard Steve call her name but she ignored him, this was more important.

She tugged with all her might, with both hands but she wasn't in any condition to be trying to pull a full-grown man into a swaying helicopter. Danny stopped shooting again, pushing Rowan aside and pulling the Congressman up with one tug. She scowled at him, she had definitely gotten the ball rolling though.

A flash of the future ran past her eyes, one shot. A good one, straight to the Congressman's chest. He was almost in, he was just in the process of turning, Rowan had one chance to stop it. A Hail Mary pass. She got in front of his chest, perched awkwardly at the edge, just as Wo Fat was raising his pistol.

"OZ!" she shouted as loud as she could, willing her voice to reach him.

And it did.

His eyes found her and shock played across his face as he took her in. For a brief second guilt welled up in her throat but she didn't know what she had to be guilty about. She didn't really owe him anything. Did she?

The helicopter pitched as Steve began to pull away and Rowan lost her balance.

And tumbled right out of it.

Rowan hit the rocky ground below and the breath was knocked out of her body. For a brief second the world went white with pain, and all she heard was the whirl of the rotor blades. That was, until she became aware off two distinct cries. One that belonged to Danny and a heart wrenching scream of her name from Steve.

Rowan couldn't answer them. She could only cough, groan and breathe out a pain riddled: "Sonofabitch."

"For Fuck sake Rowan! Get up!" she heard Danny call and Rowan forced herself to roll over so she could push herself up. She got to her elbows when she caught sight of Wo Fat making a rush forward. Immediately Danny started shooting again to drive him back, to keep him from her.

Well that was Rowan face-first in the dirt again.

"Rowan get up! We can't hold him off forever!"

She wanted to shout at him that as an untrained civilian she had a deathly fear of bullets. Still she got up to her feet and stretch out for Danny's hand. As soon as he had a hold of her wrist the helicopter began to rise. Her feet left the ground and Danny let go of his gun to grab her other hand. The intention was to haul her up but that wasn't what happened.

She was almost up when something, or someone, grabbed her waist and ripped her out of Danny's grip. This time when she fell she felt the fall, as she was higher. She had enough time to scream one name.

Danny!

But Danny couldn't help her and neither could Steve anymore.

When Rowan hit the ground, she landed on something soft. It didn't take much to figure out what happened. She rolled off of Wo Fat who had taken most of the blow from the fall and forced herself up and out of his reach before he could grab her. But she didn't run for the helicopter, she ran for the ATV. She ignored Steve's scream for her and made a bee line straight for the trees.

Until Wo Fat tackled her.

She hit the ATV and the two of them tumbled right over it. This time when she landed she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. Well that wasn't good.

Wo Fat had her. His fingers gripped one of her arms and the back of her shirt. She whirled around and hit him, close fist, with all her might, straight to the crotch. He let her go immediately, crying out in pain, and she got back up. Immediately she stumbled back, she tore her eyes away from Wo Fat and turned them to Steve.

The panic on his face was heart wrenching. She had just got him back. He had just found her again. What kind of bullshit was this?

"GO!" she shouted at him because she knew there was nothing else he could do. "Go, Steve, GO!"

She was waving him away but she could see him shaking his head. He had no intention of leaving her. He was trying to think of a way to get her he knew it. But there wasn't enough time. She glanced back to Wo Fat and found him staring at her with a dangerous gleam in his eyes and a terrible smile on his face. She knew he had clocked what was going on with her and Steve, it wasn't much but it was enough to establish that she was important to Commander McGarrett.

She took a hesitant step back, Wo Fat was in a crouched position, ready to pounce. She'd have to be faster. She turned her eyes back to Steve and put a hand to her heart and then made a squeezing motion. Please God let him understand.

Steve was still shaking his head. She smiled at him. Begging him with her eyes to trust her. Then before he could do anything else, before Wo Fat could find that pistol he had lost and shoot her, she turned and ran. Disappearing into the bushes with the thunder of the helicopter fading behind her.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Chasing.

This was his specialty. His prey never got away from him. He was determined. He was in prime physical condition and his prey was weak from torture. He'd have her soon.

Escaping.

Her forte. You didn't grow up with an older brother and not learn how to get away from him when he was chasing you. But she was tired. She was weak. And she was fading fast.

Anger pushed him forward. Humiliation chased his heels. She had made a fool of him. When he caught her he was going to make her suffer for it.

Rowan made a wild turn and then ducked into a bush, hopefully before he noticed. She stayed perfectly still and completely quiet. She held her breath, covering her mouth with her hands to quiet her gasps for air. He came into view and it took all her will power to not scream for Steve and run back to that ridge.

She was gone? What. The. Fuck. Wo Fat stilled. Which way had she gone? Why could he hear nothing? He thought he spotted a bit of red in the foliage ahead of him and ran forward to chase it. But when he got closer to it he realized it was nothing but a flower. He had gone the wrong way. So he stilled. And he listened.

He heard his heart beat. He heard his own laboured breathing. And he heard the sound of something moving through the underbrush saw the twinkle of purples within the green. A sinister smile touched his lips. Got her.

Rowan crept away. Literally on her hands and knees until she was behind a tree. She needed quiet. She needed calm. She needed to use the fear and the anxiety to open up the door to the void. She closed her eyes and willed all that fear into the scar in her back but the void didn't come to her. She couldn't find the cracks and seams to pry her way in. Her limbs were too tired, her emotions too scattered, her energy worn too thin.

She called for the void and for the first time it didn't answer.

A snap was heard behind her but she didn't look up. She could hear his feet on the ground. There was nowhere to run. No energy left to fight. And no mercy from him no doubt.

He said nothing to her. Though she felt him standing above her. She tilted her head up in time to see the rifle coming down on her. It was the last thing she saw.

Wo Fat stood over her. He had meant to bash her over the back of the head. But she had looked up to him in the last second. Those blue eyes flashing as clearly as the day he first met her. Guilt hit him. The emotion foreign, crawling under his skin. He didn't like it. He focused on the anger that had built up in his chest. This girl was Five-0. She was important to Commander McGarrett. He could use her. Use her to get what he needed. To humiliate McGarrett and ruin Five-0's name.

And that's what he was going to do.