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A/N: So here we are guys! Chapter 32! So I've got some people interested in a Christmas Chapter. A little spoiler, Rowan is no longer with Wo Fat by Christmas time in the story but she's not with Steve either. I know... PLOT TWIST. Also, I don't know where we're going to be in the story by December, to be honest I've already written 30 chapters a head and I just started rewriting season 4. So the Christmas contest will most likely be for an independent one-shot. How does that sound? Side note, as you can tell this story is gonna be a mammoth. Season 3 closes off at around 60 chapters. So Do you guys want all of the chapters here? In one place? Or should I do separate story for each season? What do you think? Don't forget to tell me when you review, and I'll see you on Friday.
Chapter 32
Wo Fat came into the room and frowned at what he saw.
Rowan's cell had gotten more lavish since he was last here and he had only been gone for a few hours. He had gotten her goose down pillows upon her very sarcastic request. He thought it might have taught her to not be sarcastic with him, but it had backfired as she absolutely adored her new pillows. The pillows came with a duvet as she was always cold. He had gotten her books to read that she had already finished, books to color in, pencil crayons, pens, and books to write in. He did not however, get her a TV and a DVD player. So how the hell had one appeared in her room?
Rowan was currently cocooned in her light purple blanket, her goose down pillows behind her and all around her. She had a bowl of popcorn in her lap, an abandoned bowl of soup and a mug of tea on a tray beside her. Armando was sitting on the other side of her, every now and then dipping his hand into the popcorn. He was just as engrossed in the singing children's movie he and Rowan were watching.
"What the hell is going on here?" he asked putting his hands on his hips.
Rowan turned to him, as if noticing him for the first time. She picked up her notepad and scrawled in it. When she was finished she held it out to him.
I was bored, it read.
"I caught Juan cuddling with her again. He's no longer allowed to be in here unsupervised. But she's too much for me to handle so I had one of the boys go and get her a TV and a bunch of movies," Armando explained. "Turns out she sings along to these things so I'm in here to make sure she doesn't."
Wo Fat turned a dry glare to her as she smiled up at him and nodded. They had a bit of a staring match in which her smile faded and she slowly lowered her eyes to look down at the book she had in her lap. She started scrawling in it and Wo Fat waited patiently until she had written out what she wanted to say.
You can't not sing along with Disney movies!
"Well then watch something else so you're not tempted," Wo Fat argued.
"Tried that. She gets frustrated at action moves and shouts at the screen. Horror movies scare her. And she cries at romantic comedies," Armando listed off. "And neither of us like documentaries so this was all we had."
Rowan was nodding again a big happy smile on her face. He tried to stay angry at her but he couldn't. Instead he turned to Armando and said: "I've got it from here."
As soon as he did Rowan hugged Armando, her arms appearing out of nowhere and latching on to him. To Wo's surprise Armando merely tapped the top of her head almost affectionately which got her to let him go. He got up from the single bed they had gotten from Ikea and then left the room.
Armando and Wo had spent six hours trying to put together that bed while Rowan motioned wildly for them to listen to her, they hadn't and five hours later she put it together for them. It only took her one hour.
Once the door was locked, as per the custom as Rowan was still a flight risk, Wo Fat sat down beside her.
"I have a surprise for you," he said softly and Rowan's head whipped towards him. Surprised delight lit up on her face. He pulled the book from where he usually hid his gun and Rowan gasped and snatched it from him.
It was next in a series he hadn't realized he bought her. It was twenty books long. He had bought all of them for her today. He'd give her new ones depending on when she finished them and how she behaved. A reward system. Like he was training a dog. And it was working.
Rowan hugged the book tightly to her chest and then opened it. By the time Wo Fat had eaten his generous handful of overly buttered popcorn she had already gotten a few chapters in. Damn she read fast.
He looked back to the movie in which some black-haired man was waltzing with a red head in a blue dress. What the hell were they watching?
"What is this?" he asked and Rowan turned to him. She held up a DVD case for him to read. "The Little Mermaid."
Rowan nodded as she reached for another handful of popcorn. The bowl was now on his lap as he was worried she'd spill it again. "Why doesn't she talk?" he asked.
Rowan put down the book she was reading and pulled out her notepad. He watched her write, softly brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear and then read what she wrote out for him.
She traded a sea witch her voice for legs and she has three days to make sure Prince Eric kisses her or the sea witch will turn her into a kelp thing.
Wo Fat read it and then turned to her with a dry glare on his face. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
Rowan giggled which caused her to wince and for one of her hands to go to her throat. Wo Fat slapped her arm. "Stop laughing, it's not funny." Which only just made her laugh harder. Which in turn lead to her coughing.
Wo Fat watched her knowing there was nothing to do except let her cough and watch the blood come out. He frowned at her as she used a tissue to wipe the blood away from her lips and off her hands.
He went into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out her meds. He kept them from her on the off chance she tried to overdose. He was almost certain she wouldn't take things that far but he didn't want to chance it.
"Take two, that will help," he said to her as she took them from him. He looked her up and down. He had been trying to make her eat but she hadn't seemed to put on any weight at all. He wanted her to look healthy, he didn't want to be able to see her ribs or be able to count the bones of her spine just by lifting up her shirt.
"Have you eaten much today?" he asked her. Rowan nodded as she threw back the two pills and drank them with what was probably left-over cold tea. He glanced at the soup bowl that was sitting on the tray beside her. Barely touched. "Have you eaten more than popcorn today?"
Rowan nodded again but he could tell she was lying. Could tell by the way her mouth twitched before she did. "I can see the practically full soup bowl beside you," he reminded her and she winced.
She brought out her book and began scrawling again. He waited patiently for her message, slowly raising his hand to brush the tendrils of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear. The absent smile at his touch sent his heart a fluttering. Solidifying his decision to keep her. And then she was showing him the page.
I don't like soup. Can I have something different?
"Alright what would you like?" he asked and she flipped the page obviously ready for this.
Hot and Spicy Chicken! I know a good place.
"Okay, well, we'll give your order to Juan Carlos and then we'll get it for you," he said. She flipped the page again and the words Can we go? was scrawled there.
It was frequent that Rowan would write out her response to a conversation they hadn't had yet. It surprised him that she could deduce how he'd react or what he was going to say and had the appropriate responses ready. It had startled him at first but he was mostly used to it now, now it just sort of annoyed him.
"I don't think so Rowan," he said with a shake of his head. He turned away to watch the movie, the black haired prince seemed to be catatonically marrying some woman who wasn't the red haired one from before. He wasn't sure what was happening but he'd pay attention to it so he wouldn't feel guilty about denying her the privilege of the outside world.
She nudged him and he turned back. Please?! was written on the page, her puppy-dog pout on her face. Wo Fat needed to stay strong. He donned his darkest most serious glare and frowned at her.
"No, Rowan," he snapped. "Steve's still looking for you and let's not forget what happened the last time we left the compound."
Rowan frowned and turned the page. But I'll be good.
"No, Rowan," he repeated.
"Please?"
Wo Fat turned to her. A wince was on her face and a hand to her throat. Her voice was low and scratchy, it sounded like a croak, like sandpaper on her vocal cords.
"You're not supposed to talk, Rowan," he reminded her but she didn't seem to be listening to him. She was winding up to talk again and he put a hand over her lips to stop her. "Fine. We'll go but no more talking, do you understand?"
The smile on Rowan's face was contagious. It made him smile too. But unfortunately, it had a negative side effect. It made him weak.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan waited patiently in line. She had her book ready and the money Wo had given her in her back pocket. But she wouldn't need it. She could hide it if necessary, it would help her with her escape later. But at that moment she just needed to eat something other than soup. She was sick of soup.
When she got to the front of the line she smiled up to Kamekona who seemed just as happy to see her.
"Litta Sistah!" he cried. "I coulda sworn you were still AWOL. Commander know you're here?"
Rowan took out her book and flipped to the page where she had pre written out responses to his inevitable questions.
Course. He sent me.
She waited for him to read it. He looked from her to the book and then back to her. Confusion was on his face, concern was right behind it.
"Whatch-u writin in dere for?" he asked and Rowan flipped to the next page.
Fractured my voice box. Can't talk until further notice.
"Major bumma sistah," he said. "Watch'u orderin?"
Rowan turned to the next page and smiled up to him as he read it.
"Alright, we got two butter garlic shrimp, one sweet and spicy shrimp, one hot and spicy Rowan special. Looks like you wanta sour strawberry shaved ice too, I'll call over to Flipper and have him make that up for you. Special delivery for our litta Sistah."
She turned to that page that had Thank you written and surrounded by hearts and Kamekona laughed. "No problem, I'll put it on McGarrett's tab too. Gotta gouge him for all he's worth eh?"
Rowan's grin widened as she fought every urge to not laugh. Laughing hurt too much. Instead she nodded in agreement and then stepped aside so Kamekona could get to work on the orders. She made sure that he was covertly watching her before turning and waving at Wo Fat who was waiting for her by the car. He was driving the least inconspicuous car in existence, which made so sense to her, but worked out.. An Audi A8, brand new with all the bells and whistles. Hot or not she had the seat warmer on just to see if it actually warmed her seat. It did. If Danny's Camaro had been in the lot as well it wouldn't have been so bad, but as it wasn't so Wo Fat in his nice suit and fancy car stood out.
He raised a hand, his version of a wave and then lowered it again and looked away. He re-crossed his arms over his chest and leant back against the side of the car. It was all that was needed, the damage was done.
"Who's dat?" Kamekona asked.
Rowan pursed her lips in mock disapproval and made a show of pulling out her note pad. She opened up her book to a page in the middle and pointed to a corner where she had scrawled: That's just Oz.
"You got yourself a new man?" he asked her. "No more Nurse for you?"
Rowan shook her head to disprove that idea. But he didn't get the idea. "You got yourself two mens now? You litta Playah!"
Okay, that wasn't where she wanted that to go but she just shrugged and smiled while Kamekona laughed.
"Two mens and McGarrett panting after you, you must have a scent or something, make the mens go crazy," he said and Rowan's eyebrows drew together in confusion. Steve was panting over her? Since when? What had been going on while she was gone?
Flipper came up at that point, shaved ice in hand. "For you. Is that your man with the flashy Audi?" he asked her as she took the ice and dug in. Already her throat felt better.
"Yah, she gots herself a new man to juggle, Sista's gonna have her hands full," Kamekona answered for her. Rowan just rolled her eyes but Flipper was grinning and nodding at her so she just let it happen.
"Alright now Sista," Kamekona said. "Here's your two butter shrimp, your sweet and spicy shrimp and a hot and spicy Rowan special. All on McGarrett's tab."
Rowan nodded her thanks and accepted the bag of food and used her snow-cone to wave good-bye to them before heading back to Wo Fat and the car. As soon as she got close enough he pushed away from the hood of the car he was leaning against.
"What is all that?" he asked her. Rowan gave him a pained look as she gestured to everything she was holding and the fact that her notebook was tucked under her arm. How did he expect her to answer?
He opened the door, taking the bag from her and dropping it onto the seat. He then turned to grab her snow-cone which she offered freely so she could pull out her notebook. She turned to the page with the orders she then scrawled names beside them.
"Two butter shrimp for Juan and Armando, Sweet and Spicy for me, A Special for you and the snow-cone's for your throat," he read out. Rowan nodded. He looked at her carefully and thoughtfully before asking: "Is it working?"
Rowan nodded and he sighed. "Alright, maybe we can get a snow-cone machine. Target sells those smaller ones, right?"
He was walking towards the driver's side of the car. Which meant Rowan was to take her spot on the passenger side. She moved the bag of food down to the ground and took the snow-cone from Wo as he offered it to her.
"I'll have Armando look into it, hmm?" he said to a small smile on his face. "And if you don't like that I'm sure I can just steal a snow-cone stand. Sound good?"
He was being nice to her. She wasn't sure what had changed to make him so kind, but she wasn't about to question it. She was still a prisoner, after all, just a prisoner with a lot of privileges and things. She could make this work though, if she could just keep him happy until she was exchanged or ransomed she'd be okay. Or better yet, maybe he'd trust her enough to leave her along, just long enough to escape.
He started the car and they drove off. She hoped Kamekona and Flipper saw enough of the car to tell Steve something about it. That would help her case. It may help Steve find her. She did so want to go home.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve couldn't get the video out of his mind. The one Kono had found and had shown him that morning. A video of the alleyway at the back of the hotel. He couldn't stop seeing Rowan. Looking lifeless. Having to be half carried by Wo Fat. He couldn't get the feeling of panic out of his chest as he she made a break for it only to have him catch her. The panic doubling when she knocked him down and one of his men stepped out of the car, gun trained on her head. Surprised when Wo Fat protected her and then carried her back to the car like she was precious cargo. How Rowan's head seemed to fit in the soft spot between his chin and shoulder. Like she belonged with him.
He just didn't get it. Wo Fat protecting her, caring for her. Evidence was right there in front of his face but he couldn't believe it. Because then maybe Alex was right and she was better off with him. Wait, who was his kidding, Wo Fat was a criminal, what life would he have with Rowan out on the run? What life could Steve have with her with his job?
None of that mattered if he couldn't find her now could it?
Steve had been so distracted by the video that he couldn't concentrate on the case. He could barely drive. And even though he promised Kamekona that he'd find the man who killed his cousin, the one who hadn't cut him off after he went to jail, who helped him set up his first shaved-ice stand, he hadn't found much to find who did it. And he had been too distracted to actually be of any help.
It was so bad that Danny took him aside and told him they were going for a walk. But they didn't go for a walk. They got in his Camaro and they went for a drive. Danny at the helm for once because Steve was too shook up to drive.
"I know this is hard," Danny said. "It looked bad, but he took her to the hospital."
"She's better off with him," Steve muttered to himself. "He's taking care of her, better than me"
"What?" Danny snapped. "Are you out of your mind? He's a psychopath, he doesn't have feelings!"
"You saw them together. He takes care of her!" Steve cried. "She let him cradle her like it was no problem!"
"Steve. That video is only mere moments after a deranged madman nearly crushed her fucking windpipe, she's bound to in enough pain to let even that man take care of her," Danny argued. "And while I'm at it, of course he has to take care of her, he's keeping her hostage. The hostage has to stay alive, or he gets nothing from you."
Steve turned to Danny nothing short of a mask of rage on his face. Danny took in the glare and then turned his attention back to the road. "Who are we kidding, if something happens to Rowan you'll hunt him down and kill him. You'll go full Rambo."
"He hasn't made contact since that night. They're so far underground no one's seen or heard of them. My mom hasn't even turned anything up. I'm afraid he has every intention of keeping her," Steve snapped ignoring the Rambo comment.
"Why would he want her?" Danny asked him.
"To keep something over me. He kept Kaye's husband's body for the same damn reason, didn't he?" Steve reminded him.
"Yes, but she's so annoying. I'm surprised she hasn't annoyed her way out of there," Danny growled.
Steve pinned him with a death glare. "Hey! We wanted to keep her, it stands to reason she could have grown on him as well."
"Yes, except we have regular people feelings and he's a sociopath who likes to murder people. It's a bit different don't you think?" Danny asked.
Steve sighed and looked back out the window. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about what happened or how it happened. He just wanted Rowan back. He wanted her away from Wo Fat. He wanted her back before the novelty of her wore off, and it would. Steve knew it would. It wore off for him, for a bit there. Wo Fat's fuse was shorter though so it wouldn't take six months for it that to happen. And his penchant for killing people he was "done" with them did not bode well for Rowan.
But what was he supposed to do? He didn't know where she was. Didn't know where Wo Fat's base of operations was or if that was even where he was holding her.
"Alright, so we're at Kamekona's. Get a shaved ice, get a shrimp platter for the whole office. But once we get back to the Palace you need to focus, so get it out of your system now."
"Mahalo, Bruddahs!" Kamekona cried as they got close to the truck. "Do you have news or have you come to settle your debts?"
"Our debts?" Danny asked.
"Yeah. You guys ordered lunch, I sent it off to you half an hour ago," he told them. "You guys owe me for it. Two garlic butter Shrimp, a sweet and sour shrimp, a Rowan special and a sour strawberry shaved ice."
"A Rowan special?" Steve echoed.
"I thought only Rowan could order a Rowan special," Danny reminded him.
"You guys sent Rowan to pick it up," Kamekona said. "Her and her new man in the fancy car."
"You saw Rowan?!" Steve cried. "Rowan was here? With someone? Who? Who was she with?"
"Whoa, bruddah. Calm down. She said you knew she was coming," he told them.
"Kame… Rowan was kidnapped, we told you that. You have guys looking for Wo Fat for us," Danny reminded him.
The big guy hung his head. "Awe, man, tricked again," he sighed. "I gotta stop believin' everything she says. But she looks so innocent, you know, it's hard to say no to her."
"You said she was here with someone?" Steve said trying to get Kamekona on track.
"Yeah, a fancy guy in a suit. Asian. Wore sunglasses. Didn't smile. Didn't see much of his face, too far away," Kamekona told him. "Got a good look at his car though. Audi A8, top of the line. All black, tinted windows, silver rims. Didn't see the licence plate though."
"So… Rowan was here… with Wo Fat…" Steve started.
"She said his name was Oz," he interrupted.
Steve shook he was so angry. "Oz is what she calls him. Oz is Wo Fat. AND YOU LET HER LEAVE WITH HIM!"
"He also gave her food and is making you pay for it," Danny reminded him.
"She said he was her new man," he said sullenly.
Steve's eyes narrowed. Anger burned through him, that green eyed snake of jealousy had coiled around him. Rowan was telling people she was dating Wo Fat?
"She said that to you?" Danny asked seemingly sensing that Steve was about to lose his damn mind.
"Well, she didn't really talk, per se, she got that note book thing going on," Kamekona said. Both Steve and Danny stared at him like he was talking code. And he sort of was. "You know, she's writin' in the book cause her voice box is broken."
Now that was something he didn't know and it knocked the anger right out of him. Rowan couldn't talk? Couldn't sing? Couldn't make a noise? She'd be a lot easier to argue with now, mainly cause she'd have to write it all out to make her point. Would she have to learn sign language? Would she be able to sing again? She loved her music, she had loved singing, how would she live without it. Alex had said her larynx was fractured, not broken. He said nothing about her not being able to talk. Why wouldn't he tell Steve that?
"Is it permanent?" Steve asked softly. Almost afraid of the answer.
"She didn't say, or write," he said. "Look. I feel terrible. We'll keep an eye out for the car. If she comes back I'll call you. Right away."
Danny looked back at Steve. He took stock of his countenance, the terrible look of grief and worry on his face. He put a hand to Steve's shoulder and Steve sunk into the touch.
"We're going to need more than a minute, aren't we?" he asked. Steve turned a glare at him and Danny nodded. "Yeah, we're gonna need like a full hour."
Hey guys! Look it's an end of story Author's note! So, if I get 250 proper reviews by this coming Monday I will post 3 times next week. So on Monday, Wednesday and then on Friday. Sound good? I will only count reviews that tell me their favourite part up until now AND something they'd like to see happen in the story. See you guys soon!