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AvalonReeseFanfics

A/N: Alright guys, here we go. This has a bit of a confession in it, and I'd like to say this chapter ends happily but oh gosh it does not. We won't reach the happy ending for a little while (Sorry I'm the queen of Angst!). There's also more about her family in this chapter so I hope you like how Steve interacts with them today. I know you guys are curious about what Wo Fat was doing at the hospital, and it's kind of touched upon in this chapter but will get better explained later on. We're almost to the winner of the One-Shot Contest, only 36 more review! Don't forget to tell me which one-shot you want if you haven't already! See you guys tomorrow!

Chapter 39

It took another ten hours for Rowan to fully wake up again. This time Steve didn't leave her side no matter what anyone said to him. There was a lucky bamboo left on the bedside table of her room that wasn't there before Wo Fat appeared in the building. A small greeting card was nestled in the branches with scrawled writing spelling out Rowan's name. Steve felt he had a right to open it but he didn't. When Rowan woke again her blue eyes, foggy with pain and morphine found his and a slow smile crept up on her face.

"Steve," she murmured.

Steve felt himself laughing and crying at the same time. He couldn't help it he was just so happy and relieved. "Hey," he said to her. "Hey, how do you feel?"

"Everything hurts," she whispered, her eyebrows drawing together a hand reached out to him. "I need to tell you something."

"Yeah?" he asked. He had something to tell her to but he wanted her a bit more lucid when he did. Still he took her hand and held onto it tightly. He brushed his lips on her knuckles and she sighed with content.

"I like you, Steve," she suddenly blurted out. "I do. A lot. I know you have a Catherine, but I can't help it. I like cuddling, I like holding your hand, and I like making dinner for you when you get home. But I want to kiss you, and you know, sex, I think we'd be really great at sex."

She liked him. She liked him. This was everything he wanted and more. "Well, that's good Rowan. Because I like you too," he told her and her smile widened.

"Really?"

He stood, framing her face with his hands and kissing her solidly on her lips. He probably should have waited to have a better first kiss with her, but this was enough for now. Just to prove to her that it was true. They could have a proper sober first kiss later.

"Yeah Rowan, I do," he said to her. "Don't you worry about Catherine. I'll deal with it. Okay?"

Rowan smiled again, this time more sleepily. "Best dream ever," she whispered to herself and then rolled onto her bad arm, winced and Steve pulled her back to her back and watched her fall asleep.

He smiled. His heart was soaring. This was it. This was what he wanted. Happiness was right around the corner. Now he just needed to talk to Catherine, and he'd get everything he'd want.

His phone rang and Steve groaned. That's right. He was still on duty. He should have asked for time off. He stared at Rowan's face, her lovely beautiful perfect face. He didn't want to leave that face.

He picked up the phone listened to Duke and then said: "I need a uniform here outside of Rowan's door. Then I can head to the scene of the crime." Once Duke agreed Steve sat back and stared at the girl who now held his heart.

Nothing could deflate this sense of happiness.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve loved rescue missions. He loved going out on boats and finding someone in distress. He loved being their hero. But Steve didn't want that today. He wanted to go back to Rowan. He wanted to make sure Alex didn't do anything while he was gone.

When he got to the docks that morning, Danny was on him in a nanosecond. For starters Steve hadn't contacted Catherine since Rowan's incident and she had called each Five-0 and asked where he was. Not a single one of them had told her about Rowan, each having some unspoken understanding that if Catherine knew, things would get more complicated for him. Secondly Danny wanted to know how Rowan was doing. He was equally as happy to hear that she was awake, even if she wasn't fully lucid. It was progress considering she had been on and off dying not 40 hours before the incident. Danny joked that Wo Fat's presence and her burning desire to tell him to go fuck himself had been her saving grace. Steve didn't find it funny at all. Why was Wo Fat there in the first place if not to finish her off?

They were on their way out to a shark diving cave looking for a missing owner of a shark diving business, and the cage he was supposed to pick up. They got to where the cage was supposed to be and found sharks circling what was probably the sunken cage and a boat only a few leagues away. They pulled the body out first and then they went over to the boat. Potential witnesses and what not.

The captain let them board, and this sudden feeling of dread crept up on Steve. Something wasn't right here.

"We're just a research boat," the captain said. "We've got a scientist working with the UH Marine Center, he's piloting a deep-sea drone at the moment."

"Did you guys happen to notice a cage at any point during your dive today?" Danny asked.

The captain shrugged. "Dr. Pierce rarely notices anything that isn't directly linked to his project," he said. "His kid may have noticed though, I'll go get him."

Surprise lit up both Steve and Danny's features. "I'm sorry. Did you say Pierce?" Danny asked.

The Captain nodded and disappeared below deck while Steve and Danny waited for him to get someone to talk to them. Danny turned to Steve. "Pierce? Like that Doctor you called up in Toronto? Like Rowan Pierce?"

"Why would it be him? The Dr. Pierce I called dealt with theoretical things, not marine biology. Besides even if it is him they're not her real family. They don't share DNA, they probably don't even know Rowan exists," Steve whispered. He shot a look at Danny, a serious look. A don't tell them about Rowan look. Danny merely nodded.

A man came up from below deck and startled both Danny and Steve and not because he appeared suddenly. The man that smiled warmly at them, with the tanned muscular arms, and the windswept dark brown hair, was staring back at them with Rowan's blue eyes.

"Hi, I'm Trevor Pierce," he said offering them a hand to shake. "You were asking about a shark cage?"

Danny recovered faster than Steve did who was still struck dumb by those familiar eyes staring back at them. At the way the man's mouth moved around his words the same way Rowan did. The way he held himself in the same position, arms crossed over his chest. But those eyes were still on Steve, his eyebrow arched just like Rowan's would have been.

"I'm sorry, is there a problem?" Trevor asked cutting off Danny. Steve blinked his eyes but before he could apologize a smile dawned on Trevor's face. "You like what you see?"

He even flirted like Rowan.

"No. Sorry. You just look familiar, like I've seen you somewhere before," Steve said.

"Oh. Probably on TV. I went the national championships last year," Trevor said looking away.

"Yeah? In what?" Danny asked.

"Figure Skating," Trevor answered. "Anyway. Yes. We did notice the sharks this morning. We were supposed to send in divers, but we spotted them and sent the robot instead. We figured it was a feeding frenzy, we didn't see a cage or a body."

"Is it possible that the drone caught sight of the cage on its descent?" Steve asked.

"It's possible. My dad may not have noticed it," he said. "Uh, you can come down with me if you'd like and ask him."

They followed Trevor down the narrow stairs and down a small hallway. They found Dr. Trenton Pierce in a small room, face glued to a screen. There were papers all of the place, taped haphazardly to a wall. A giant map with a big looming red X was across from them. Steve recognized the coordinates. They were the exact coordinates Rowan had been when he had found her in the ocean that night after she came out of the void.

"Dad, we have some people here to talk to you," Trevor said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm busy," the man intoned and Trevor winced. He glanced at them, an embarrassed twinge on his face before pressing his father further. It was a look Steve knew, it was a look that Rowan had patented.

"Dad, they're cops," he said and Trenton's head whipped up. He turned to them and Steve froze again.

The man looked like the poster child for a mad scientist. His salt and peppered hair was sticking up at odd angles, there were coffee stains on his touristy Hawaiian shirt. But those blue eyes peering out at him from behind wire glasses were the same striking blue as Trevor and Rowan's. Now he knew where they got it from.

"We have permission to dive," he said quickly.

"No, dad," Trevor sighed but Steve stepped forward.

"I'm Commander Steven McGarrett…"

"Ah, an army boy!" he cried standing up and clapping a hand to his shoulder. He ignored Steve's attempts to tell him that he was navy and not army. "Sorry but none of my theories are weaponizable right now."

He patted Steve's bicep a few times more before turning back to his monitor.

"No. Dad. Stop," Trevor said getting in his way. "They're here about a murder."

"Well if they want our robot to go searching for a body they're going to be disappointed. I've got this rented out for the next twenty four hours and out on international waters you can't make me do squat," he said pushing past his son to sit back down.

Trevor shot them an apologetic look. Steve didn't even know how to begin to explain how none of that was true to this man. He could definitely see where Rowan got her stubbornness and her one-track mind from. He decided to let Trevor take the reins, he had more practice with his father and Steve had learned nothing about managing Rowan's behaviour during their time together. Maybe this would help him during future arguments.

"Dad, when you were putting the camera in did you notice the sharks?"

"The ones circling the cage?" he asked. When Trevor confirmed that was the cage they were talking about Dr. Pierce merely shrugged. "They were only interested in the body."

Trevor groaned. "Dad… why didn't you tell us that there was a body in that cage?"

"It has nothing to do with what we're looking for," he replied as if it made absolute sense. Trevor groaned again.

"Okay. You know what. Break time. Dad. Go get more coffee," he ordered.

"No, I'm good," Dr. Pierce told him showing him a full cup.

Trevor grabbed it and threw the contents into the garbage. "Get another one," he ordered.

"Trevor, you're starting to be a hindrance to the project. Do I need to send you home?" Trenton Pierce asked, his voice full of parental disappointment.

"Dad, if we get obstruction of justice charges brought up against us do you think the university will keep letting you borrow their things?" Trevor argued. Trenton huffed and then stood.

"You have five minutes. That's it," he snapped. He turned nodded to Steve and Danny and said: "Sailors."

Then disappeared down the hallway. Okay so maybe he was listening when Steve said he was in the Navy, but then he assumed that Danny was too?

Trevor sat down at the computer. "I'm sorry about that," he told them. "He's not doing it to be malicious. It's just… once he gets on a roll, he's got this laser focus. All that will matter is whatever he's working on."

Danny shot a glance at Steve as he said: "Yeah I know how frustrating it is to work with someone like that."

Steve rolled his eyes, that wasn't what was important right now. "Uh… what are you guys looking for?" he asked.

"Oh. Uhm… well the easiest way to explain it is my dad does a lot of research into the alternate reality theories and last year we performed this experiment," Trevor said absently. "We tried to pull an object from reality to another. Except we lost it in transit. We think it fell into the ocean. We tried to search the drop sight but we think it might have shifted with the currents and what not."

He stood and offered up a disk. "I've copied our footage. I don't know how helpful it would be. It was already there when we got here."

Danny took the disk as Steve busied himself with the papers and the map. Danny cornered Trevor who was watching Steve carefully. "You know, your eyes, they're a startling colour."

This caused Trevor to blush a dark red color. The young man immediately stared down at his shoes and rubbed the back of his head.

"It's our trademark. The Piercing Pierce blue eyes," Trevor replied. "Everyone in our family has them. Except my mom… of course. Dad says they're a dominate trait so my kids should get them too."

He turned back to Steve who was now flat out staring at the many papers lying around and pasted on the walls without any subtly at all. "Are you interested in the multiverse theories?" Trevor asked. "You could ask my dad if you want. But he'll go on for hours about them, so don't do it unless you don't have anywhere to be."

"I am interested," Steve whispered. "But I'm afraid we have a deadline. Murderer to catch. You know how it is?"

Trevor laughed. "No, can't say that I would," he said. His smile faded a bit, the way Rowan's did when she thought of a question she wanted to ask but wasn't sure if she was going to ask it. "About that body. Uh… Say it wasn't in a cage. Where do you think it would have gone?"

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Uh. That depends. The currents and the winds could have moved it, it depends on the weather at the time. It could have been eaten by sharks, could have washed up on one of the shores. But this far out, it would probably just sink and get eaten."

Trevor nodded. "Right," he whispered. "You guys are law enforcement, obviously, have you had any cases of people being pulled from the ocean in the last year? Like... dead bodies... or maybe… live ones?"

Danny turned to Steve. "I don't know. Steve?"

"No," he answered as definitely as he could. "Thanks for this."

As they were heading back to shore on their own boat Danny leant in and whispered: "Is there any reason why you didn't tell him about Rowan?"

"Because I don't get a good vibe from them," Steve said. "Besides. We don't know anything about Rowan's family. They may not even be hers."

"They have her eyes," Danny reminded and Steve shrugged and looked away.

He at no point was going to give them any information about Rowan. Not when he had just gotten her to admit that she had feelings for him. Not when he was this close to getting his shot at real genuine happiness.

"That place they were looking," Danny said interrupting his thoughts. "Not that I know much about the ocean, but is that, by any chance, close to where Rowan dropped in on us the first time?"

Steve wasn't sure about that. "I don't know. I'd have to ask the coast guard," Steve asked, pulling out his phone to shoot out that email.

"Is it close to where you picked up Rowan the second time?" Danny asked.

Steve sighed. "Yes, Danny, it's exactly where I picked her up the second time," he admitted because there was no point in lying to his partner.

"The evidence is piling up against you, babe," Danny said and Steve looked away from him. Danny just didn't understand. He wasn't going to give Rowan up now. He just wasn't.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Waking up was nearly as painful as getting shot.

Everything was in agony. Mostly her shoulder. But her head, her throat, and everything else too. Everything was in a dull ache.

She blinked her blurry eyes at whoever was sitting beside her. It was a fairly familiar looking blur.

"Steve?" she whispered.

"Nope, Alex," he replied.

Rowan forced herself to smile. "Alex," she said as warmly as possible.

"Still second best, I see," he whispered.

"No, Alex, it's not like that," she tried to say. God. Why did he have to do this to her right now? She was in so much pain, it was so hard to focus. She didn't want to argue. She just wanted someone to hold her hand and tell her she'd be okay.

"I'm joking, Rowan," he said, she could hear the smile in his words so she smiled too. "How are you feeling."

"Like I got shot and then hit by a truck," she replied.

"Yeah, I can imagine," he said. His hand gripped hers and she clung to it like she was starved for human contact.

"I need to talk to you, Rowan," he said to her. And her mouth ran dry. "I know I'm second to Steve. I am. And I'm fine with that. But Rowan, this man has a girlfriend and you're supposed to be mine. I think, I think, that you just need to get away from Steve."

Rowan blinked her eyes. "It's not that easy," she whispered. Things may have been fuzzy but she knew, without a shadow of a doubt that she didn't want to leave Steve.

"Ro, it really is," Alex urged. "The man got you shot. Your injuries are escalating. I'm worried the next time he gets you into a sticky situation, you'll die."

Alex looked so sincere but he was wrong. Steve didn't get her into this. No one had gotten her into this but herself. It was her decisions alone that got her kidnapped, and Wo Fat's decision to shoot her. Probably as punishment for wanting to go back to Steve.

"Steve didn't shoot me, Alex," she reminded him.

"No. But you wouldn't have been in that situation if you hadn't felt the need to go and help Steve. You know? You're not a cop Rowan. You're not trained for these things like the rest of his team is. He should have known better than to take you along," he chided.

Rowan tried not to frown. Alex knew that Rowan rarely gave Steve a choice. He should have known that her and Steve literally just had a huge argument about her involvement in his cases and how he wanted her to stop. She almost told him all of that too except that Alex had kept talking.

"Look. You forget but I was here, I saw him. He did the bare minimum of getting you back. Did you know it took him twelve hours to put together that you came to the hospital? That you were at his crime scene? He spent all his time with his girlfriend and his cases and because of that you got stuck with his nemesis who eventually shot you," Alex snapped. "The fact of the matter is that getting away from Steve fixes everything. It fixes how often you'll be in the hospital and you said it yourself, you had less visions when you were away from him. It'll also give you the time to heal."

Rowan fell quiet. She just kept blinking her eyes at him trying to clear her vision, trying to clear her head. This was the third person to tell her that Steve hadn't really tried his hardest to get her back. And Alex wasn't like Wo Fat and Doris, they weren't on the same team. He didn't want her to stay with Wo Fat for some twisted reason, he wanted her to stay with him. But maybe it was true. Maybe Steve really didn't care about getting her back. Maybe he really had replaced her with Catherine as soon as she was gone. Maybe he really didn't care that much about her, not even as friends.

"What do you want me to do Alex? I'll have no where else to go," she reminded him because her thoughts were going to dark places and she really needed to get that spiral under control.

"Yeah, I thought about that," Alex said. "I want you to live with me. I want you to move in. And we'll work it all out."

Oh. Oh boy. That was a lot to take in. "Alex, everything's fuzzy. Do I have to answer now?" she asked.

"No. Of course not. Take your time. Think about it," he told her. "Just tell me what you decide, keep me in the loop."

"Keep coming to visit me and I totally will," she said. She went to move her other arm, to pet his hand but her arm didn't move. She looked down to it, the blue blur she focused on wouldn't move no matter how much she willed it to.

At that point she swallowed the panic that was starting to rise and turned back to the blur that was Alex. "Uh… Alex? Is there something wrong with my arm?"

Rowan felt the change in the atmosphere. She felt the trepidation and the worry that radiated off of him and immediately prepared herself for the worst.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

After a long grueling day and a hectic inaugural helicopter ride, Steven McGarrett was glad to return to the hospital. It had been a long day, but he wanted to see Rowan. And he figured that by now she's be sober enough to fully understand the conversation he was going to have with her.

He rushed through the hallways, the bouquet of flowers in one hand, a snow cone in the other and a speech running through his mind. When he got to her room he was happy to see that Rowan was sitting up and seemed completely conscious. She looked up and when she saw him and smiled, that bright smile that was always for him.

"Hey you!" he said mirroring her smile. "I got these for you."

There was a strange look on her face when she spotted the snow cone, her smile faltered a bit before she took it from him. "Uhm… I'm sure you can put the flowers with another bunch," she told him.

Steve nodded and busied himself with find a vase that could spare the room as Rowan carefully went about positioning the swivel tray, while holding a snow cone. He noted that she was doing so one handed. That meant she knew about her arm. That meant there was no mobility in it. The doctors warned him about that. But they wouldn't know how bad it was until she had woken up.

He quickly got the flowers in the vase and moved to her side, grabbing the tray and positioning it for her. He then found himself brushing her hair back. His heart was thundering, swelling with what he could only call intense liking and burning desire paired with a debilitating nervousness.

"Is it bad?" he asked softly.

"Uhm, well… I guess it's bad," she said. Knowing immediately what it was he was talking about. "They did some tests. I can't feel anything or move anything. They want to put me through some physio therapy before they take a look at the nerves to make sure no wires got crossed or something."

"Oh. That's not that bad," he said trying to remain optimistic. "We can start worrying if the physio doesn't work."

Rowan smiled and went back to her snow cone. He glanced back to the first set of flowers she got. That lucky bamboo was the first thing his eyes went to. The card was no longer there. He sat himself down in the chair he had spent more than ten hours in waiting for her to wake up.

"You… uh… you opened the card," he said and Rowan turned to him surprised. "The one from the bamboo."

"Uh… yeah…" she whispered. "I don't know who it was from."

"I do," he answered. "Wo Fat. He came to visit you."

Rowan blinked her eyes. "I didn't dream that?" she asked.

Steve shook his head. "That bastard," she snapped. "Sending me a get-well card like he wasn't the reason I needed to get well. Well, he can go fuck himself."

Steve laughed at her. He couldn't help it. She sounded so angry about it. His little ball of rage packed in a cute little package.

"Is there anything else you dreamed?" he asked her. He watched Rowan's eyes lower and her cheeks flamed. Ah so she did remember. To keep his own nervous energy at a manageable level he found himself getting up and walking to the foot of the bed. "Maybe something you may have told me?"

Rowan's eyes whipped up, her cheeks went this adorable pink color. "Uhm… did I… did I…?"

"Admit you have feelings for me? Yes, yes you did," he said. Rowan groaned and Steve's smile widened. She was so cute when she was embarrassed. She covered her face with her one hand.

"I knew it. I knew it wasn't a fictional crush. I can't wait to rub it into Alex's face," he crowed. Rowan opened her mouth to argue. She would probably try to tell him it meant nothing, but he wasn't going to let her.

"She admitted she has feelings for you?"

Well that shattered the moment. Steve turned, shocked to find Catherine standing at the doorway, she too carrying a vase of flowers.

"Cath," Steve breathed out. Damn, he knew he was forgetting something. He had forgotten to talk to Catherine about ending their relationship.

"So I was right. She is trying to take you from me," Catherine snapped.

Steve glanced to Rowan who looked horrified by this revelation. "No, no, I wasn't. I haven't…" she started and Steve took a step towards Catherine.

"Hey, let's talk about this in the hallway," he urged pulling her away from Rowan before she could make things worse.

"Look, Cath…" he started but Catherine cut him off.

"No. Steve I've been telling you all along that she was doing these things on purpose. She was trying to isolate you from me. All the incidents, all the times you had to swoop in and rescue her, all of them were to keep you and me apart. You had no interest in her until she started doing all those things. Before she came into your life, before you made her your responsibility we had no issues. Rowan's created them. Created them so she could have you to herself," Catherine complained. But that wasn't true, he was just better at hiding it before.

"Catherine, don't be ridiculous. No one sets out to get kidnapped just to ruin a relationship. Not even Rowan is that crazy. I think… I think we're just going to have to face facts…" Steve started but a soft cry of No stopped him from finishing the sentence. When he turned he saw Rowan up and out of bed and leaning against the doorframe.

"Wait, don't. Just… just listen to me," she said.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," Steve said taking a step forward only to have Rowan bark out a command of don't!

She turned to Catherine. "I know I'm not your favourite person right now but I think it should be you who helps me to the bed," she said avoiding Steve's eyes. Catherine agreed, pushing past Steve to help Rowan as he hung back. He had to admit he was hurt, she didn't want him to help her? Why? This didn't bode well. His happiness drained out of him and instead he was filled with a terrible trepidation, the air around them felt electric, like at any moment something bad was going to happen.

Once Rowan was in the bed, she turned her face up to them and saw a sort of determination on her features that made him very, very nervous.

"I know you don't like hearing this, but I have to say it. Catherine's right in a sense," she said and Steve's heart dropped to his stomach. He glanced to Catherine and found that even she looked shocked. No one in the room had been expecting that. "I haven't been actively trying to screw you and Catherine up, honestly, but it's happened anyway. If I wasn't here you'd be fine."

"You see… you guys are supposed to end up together. There's a lot of stuff you guys have to go through, we're only in season three after all. She leaves you a lot and she lies like your mother but by season nine you guys straighten everything out and get married. And even though I'm not trying to I can see that I'm derailing that," Rowan said. Steve scoffed and looked away, so that was what his future was supposed to hold? That was what he had to look forward too? Married to a woman who leaves him often and lies like his mother? Oh joy.

"I can acknowledge that I'm part of the problem. I need to get over you, Steve. And to do that I think I'm going to need a lot of space. I don't want you to think that this is your fault or you did something wrong, but I'm the problem and I can't fix it until I get over you. And I think… I think it's going to fix a lot of things too," Rowan said.

Steve shook his head. No. No this wasn't happening. He just spent more than a month worrying about her. Wanting her back and now that she was here she was expecting him to just let her walk away? No.

"Like what?" he snapped.

"Well, for starters, it'll fix you and Catherine," she said.

Doubtful. "And what else?" he asked because he'd need more than just that.

"I didn't get my visions as frequently when I was away from you. And once I stopped having the visions I wasn't in a state of constant peril," she said.

"You were with a man who eventually shot you. I think peril was hovering around you at all times, Rowan," he argued.

Rowan shook her head. "You know what I mean. I wasn't going out of my way to find trouble. Which as you remember cause quite an issue between you and me too. You always having to rescue me and all," she reminded him.

"I apologized for that Rowan. I told you I didn't mean it," Steve told her his voice hitching. He didn't even care if Catherine could hear it, if she saw the cracks this was causing in his usually impenetrable armour.

"Steve, come on," she said and he found himself looking down to the floor. "It's painfully clear that I'm not going to get home. I need to learn how to stand on my own two feet. I'm grateful for everything you did, I loved that I got to help you even a little bit. But my life isn't supposed to revolve around Five-0, I was never supposed to be here, or to meet you. And when I'm away from you I'm a little bit normal, you know? Not Rowan the crazy psychic. You need to let me go. You need to let me try. Can you do that?" she asked.

Steve looked at her. At the girl who had done so much to try and make him happy. She was right. He hovered, he had stopped her from getting a job, and by not listening to her and her visions he had forced her into situations that put her in danger. And he never got to her in time to stop her from getting hurt.

"Is this really what you want?" he asked in a small voice, there were unshed tears in her eyes as she stared at him, just like he was sure he looked as miserable as could be. He already knew her answer before she said. It

"Yes, it's what I want. It's what I think we both need," she said.

Well he'd have no choice then. He'd have to do what's right for her. "Fine," he whispered. "But where are you going to go? I don't want you out on your own if you don't have a job or a place to stay."

Rowan looked down to her one good hand that was fiddling with the plastic spoon that came with her snow-cone.

"I'm… uh… I'm going to move in with Alex," she told him and that jealous anger flared up. Alex had gotten to her while he was gone. Fuck he never should have left her. He should have left the case to the rest of the Five-0 team.

But what could he say now? Really? She had made up her mind. And maybe she had a point. Maybe he only felt this way because she was the new and bright shiny thing. And he was one hundred percent certain if he had never met Rowan he would never have looked past Catherine. Maybe this would be good for him.

"Alright," he said though it was far from fine. His shoulders sagged, defeated. "If that's what you want to do, who am I to stop you?"

Rowan said nothing to him, she didn't even look up from her melting snow cone.

"Uh… I'm going to… uh… you know. I've got to go," he said needing to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

"Thank you," she whispered to his retreating back. "For the flowers. For the snow cone. For everything."

But Steve didn't stay, he couldn't. It hurt too much to look at her. This was different from all the other times. This wasn't her leaving because he told her to. She wasn't being held against her will. Rowan asked to leave. She had asked him to let her go. She wanted to leave. Just like everyone else in his life he had cared about. Rowan wanted to leave him. She wasn't the girl who was going to stay.

"Steve wait," Catherine called having apparently followed him. "Steve. Slow down."

"What?" Steve asked whirling around. "You won. She's gone. She's out of my life. Happy now?"

"Steve, calm down," Catherine ordered. "Will you stop making me the bad guy here? I just wanted to see if you were okay?"

"Okay? Am I okay? The girl got shot in front of me almost three days ago. I do everything in my power to keep her alive and she fucking kicks me out of her life!" he thundered. "How is that okay? The ungrateful little brat!"

"You didn't tell me she was in the hospital. You didn't tell me she got shot. You didn't tell me anything. I could have been here for you, but you chose to not tell me," Catherine reminded him. Why was she making this about her right now? "And how is it ungrateful? She's leaving your life so she can get over you and you and I can get back on track. Don't you want that Steve?"

What the hell was he going to say to her? That up until five minutes ago his plan was to break up with her and date Rowan? He couldn't say that. Well, he could. But that would be terribly rude. And then he'd lose two relationships in one day and he couldn't handle that. He wasn't sure he could handle that much pain and loss.

GET OUT!

The screeching sob stopped Steve from having to answer Catherine's question. He turned to see a vase of flowers get whipped through the doorway. From Rowan's room? Despite having his heart ripped out by the girl, he didn't want her this distraught so soon after her surgery.

I never want to see you again!

He was even more surprised to watch his mother come stumbling out of the room. She was crying. Big huge tears falling down her cheeks.

"Mom," Steve said coming towards her as the nurses ran into Rowan's room to calm her. "Mom, what happened? What's wrong with her?"

"She blames me," Doris cried wrapping her arms around her son and crying into his shoulder. "She's never going to forgive me."

"Forgive you? Blame you? Mom, why would she? What happened?" Steve asked after letting her cry for a couple of seconds. His mother straightened in his arms and the tears stopped. As if his questions had put the cap back onto her emotions.

She pulled out of his embrace wiped her cheeks free from any tears. "I don't know what her problem is," she said stiffly. "I guess she thinks I'm someone else."

She pushed away from Steve before he could call her out on her lies. She was gone before he could ask her to stop. He watched her go knowing that he may not be able to do anything about Rowan, but he sure as hell could do something about his mother and her lies.