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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy New Years GUYS! Sorry this update is so late! Alright guys, I've got… I've got some good new and some bad news. So the good news is... you guys gave me so much inspiration that I have been basically writing for DAYS! The bad news is... I'm hella behind. So I just finished chapter 76 and I'm only on episode 7. Rowan and Steve get together at the end of episode 21. I don't think I'm going to be able to rewrite 14 episodes in 14 chapters... they definitely might be uhm... a lot longer than one episode per chapter. I mean I could do it but the updates would be over 20 pages long. So... uh... I don't think I'm going to have them together by chapter 90. But you know what I can tell you... without giving you too many spoilers... is that by episode 12 stalker Steve is on the out and he and Rowan are trying to working things out. It's not much and I'm sorry, but I'm going to try really hard to get us to the point when they get together as soon as possible. I promise! See you guys on Friday!

Chapter 51

Steve had every intention of going straight to Alex's apartment to interrogate Rowan. In fact, he was so immersed in the idea of seeing her again that his heart started racing, his palms starting sweating and he got a weird heartburn type feeling travelling up his throat.

But Catherine got to him first, and almost immediately the feeling went away.

"Hey, where are you heading?" she asked.

"Oh us? We're going to go try out a new bakery before we hit up a potential suspect," Danny answered and Steve almost jumped out of surprise because he hadn't thought Danny was following him.

Steve had to commend him on that one. It was a good lie, because it was mostly true. Today was Rowan's bake day, which meant there would be something freshly baked that she would most likely let him try. She could work for a bakery if she wanted to, so… yeah it wasn't a professional bakery but he was sure it counted.

And luckily Catherine didn't ask him anymore questions about that. Unfortunately, that was because something else seemed to be on her mind.

"Uhm, hey can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked.

Danny moved away from them. "Sure, I'll go wait by the car," he said.

Steve almost asked him to stay. There was a look about Catherine that made him worried. She was upset, he could see that. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle another Rowan talk. If she started bitching about how distant he had been he was going to walk away and that would bite him in the ass down the road.

He was trying really hard to stay on his "right" path. His destiny with Catherine. She should acknowledge that, not chide him for it.

"Are you okay?" he asked despite his better judgment. He figured he'd get bonus points for acting the concerned boyfriend after all.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said quickly. Almost too quickly. "I'm fine… uh. Listen, do you remember Kevin Hobbs from the Naval Academy?"

Okay. Weird. Where was this going?

"Yeah. Linebacker for the Mids," he said, because it was true. He crossed his arms over his chest almost immediately. It was a defensive maneuver now, almost like he was guarding his heart from whatever words she was going to hurl at him. "What about him?"

"Well, he's with the FBI now. He gave me a ring earlier because he knows that I have a direct line to you," she said.

Steve nodded he was following along so far. "Okay."

Catherine looked down again. Oh God. This was going to be a doozy, he could just tell. "Catherine, what's wrong?" he asked, trying not to sound too impatient. "What? You can tell me."

"Listen Steve he told me something off the record that I think you really need to know," she told him and then handed him a file.

What had Rowan done?

That was his first thought. Something had happened to Rowan or she had done something to get on their radar. Probably something to do with Wo Fat.

But when he opened up the file it wasn't about Rowan at all.

It was about his mother.

Steve read the file, eyes blinking in shock. His mother was about to get arrested. Fuck. While he had been busy worrying about Rowan he had completely forgotten about his mother. She had been left attended for too long and this had happened.

Fuck.

He thanked Catherine and then made a break for where his truck was parked. Right by Danny's Camaro. Danny opened his arms in his typical what-gives fashion.

"Hey! Sorry. But… uh… I gotta take care of something. Just call me if you get any traction on the case all right?" Steve asked.

Danny shook his head as if the question confused him.

"Uh. No," he said. "You practically left a smoke trail from Catherine to here, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, so it's nothing?" Danny snapped, grabbing the door of Steve's truck before he could shut it. "Is that the game we're playing now?"

"Look, Danny, it's better if you don't get involved in this one, okay?" he said. Because it was true. This was going to end badly. His mother was up to something and Steve was ready to go down with her over it. But he didn't want to take Danny too. Danny had a Grace to look after, and if Steve went away well… Dannny would have a Rowan too.

"See, that is where I strongly disagree," Danny said. Steve tried to pry the door out of Danny's hand but it didn't budge.

Steve knew that Danny wouldn't let this go. He knew that if he had to Danny would tail his truck and berate him until he told him, so he might as well knuckle under now and answer his questions.

He sighed long and loud before rolling his eyes and glaring at Danny. "Fine. Last month, the FBI's Computer Forensics Unit caught somebody hacking into the National Fingerprints Database. Now it took them some time but they think they finally have a suspect," Steve told him.

"So… what? Why are you acting goofy because of that?" Danny asked. And then his face fell. "Buddy, I don't think Rowan hacked the National Fingerprints Database. Unless you think Wo Fat had Toast do it? Though the kid swears he only hacked Five-0, maybe his brain is so fried he can't remember... I can ask him again fi you'd like?"

"Nope, no. None of that," Steve said, though he had to admit it was a valid concern for Danny to have. "Because their suspect is my mother."

He handed Danny the file and let him look through it. Steve continued while he did. "Apparently, she covered her tracks pretty well but now the feds have been able to trace an IP back to a Wi-Fi hotspot and they can put Doris there around the time of the hack."

Honestly, Steve expected something other than relief to wash over Danny's features and was none too happy to see it on his partners face as he handed the file back to Steve. "Okay. Do you have any idea why she's doing this?" he asked.

"I have no idea. All I know is that the Feds are closing in. I gotta go see her right now," he said. He hoped he sounded urgent. It felt urgent. He had a lot of things crumbling around him, people slipping through his fingers, he didn't want to lose his mother again.

Not over something as stupid as this.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve knocked on his mother's door and waited for her to answer. Luckily, he didn't need to wait long.

"Hey honey," she said in a sugary sweet voice with an equally sweet smile on her face. "What are you doing here?"

He wanted to believe she was sincere in sounding happy to see him. But all Doris did was lie. It was all anyone in his life did now.

"We need to talk," he said pushing past her and into her house before she could stop him.

"Really? Because I was just on my way out," she said, but he didn't believe that either.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah?"

"To some place that has free Wi-Fi maybe?" he asked. Doris had the smarts to look surprised by that comment. Maybe she was just surprised that he knew about her pastimes. "Because if you're planning on hacking into another highly secured government database, you should try to make sure you don't get caught on camera."

He then passed her the file with her picture in it and waited for her to say something to him. To lie again. Go ahead, he felt like screaming, go ahead and lie to me some more mom!

She looked at the file, looked back up to him and then back down to the file. But she said nothing.

"What? You got nothing to say?" he asked.

"Okay, for what it's worth, I did the FBI a favour. I identified their weak spots," she said with a chuckle and a shrug. Like this was some sort of game.

"Mom!" he cried. "Do you have any idea how serious this is? You're looking at jail time here."

His mother had the nerve to smile at him. The absolute nerve. "Oh, come on. This is circumstantial. It's nothing."

Steve was flat out floored by this. "Can you hear yourself right now?"

That seemed to get to his mother. "Okay, at least, let me explain," she bargained.

Steve nodded. "This should be good."

"Over coffee," she said hastily grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door. "Come on. Let's just sit down and talk this through, please? Can we go?"

They were almost to the door when a thump was heard. Steve came to a stop immediately. Why the hell did his mother want him out so quickly? Huh? What was up with that? And now there were noises from further into the house.

"What was that? Somebody's here?" he asked. Because that was sure as hell what that sounded like. Was she in trouble right now? Was the FBI already here? Who was his mother hiding now?

"No one's here," she said. Her voice was shaking. She was lying. "Can we…?"

She didn't get to finish that sentence though because Steve had ripped his arm out of her grasp and started charging through the house. Cries of Steve wait! followed him but he didn't listen.

He threw a door open, one that should have led to another bedroom but instead he found Mick, Wade and an entire room plastered in blue prints and surveillance photos.

"Steve," Mick said sounding amused.

"Commander," Wade said with not the same feeling.

Steve stared at everything on the wall and the table. Dread washed over him. He was looking at an op. He knew an op when he saw one, but he still turned to his mother and asked: "What the hell is going on here?"

And then he waited for the others to answer.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Doris had managed to drag Steve out to her balcony. But the cat was out of the bag. He saw everything. He knew everything, he wasn't stupid, he was well trained and very smart. He could tell what she was planning, he may not know specifics but he saw enough.

And if she found out that that Rowan bitch had sent him there, she was going to strangle the girl. Wo Fat's protection wouldn't keep her from Rowan if that was the case.

"Okay. No more lies, no more games. Just tell me what's going on," Steve ordered. Damn he was bossy. Just like her. But she knew as soon as she told him what was going on, he was going to demand to help, just like his father would have.

Worried mother or not. Steve wasn't going to let her lie to him anymore. She was going to have to admit what was going on and then hope to god she could dissuade him from tagging along.

"I was looking into who stole the microfiche. Mick and Wade have been helping," she admitted.

Steve thought this over. "That's why you hacked the FBI?" he asked. Oh… he was good.

"Yeah, I pulled a print from the break-in. I needed an ID and I didn't want to get you involved," she said. Because that part at least was true. That and she wasn't very good at asking for help.

Steve thought about it, geared up for what would be a very long lecture, then let it all out in one sigh. "Okay," he said, his voice soft, his face conveying his disappointment. "Who's your suspect? Give me a name. I'll have them picked up in 10 minutes."

Oh, oh, he really was such a good boy. He was so willing to help her, so willing to do anything. But he didn't understand.

"You can't," she said.

"And why is that?" he asked. He looked so dejected… so defeated. She had done this to him. Him and Rowan. God. She should have pulled Rowan out when she had he chance. She should have just taken her from Wo Fat and given her back to Steve. They would have gotten together. Steve would have been happier. This wouldn't be happening right now. But she couldn't go back and change it now.

"Because they still have the microfiche," she explained. Because he had to understand that she needed it back. "You move in now, you'll blow any chance I have of stealing it back."

Now that put the anger right back into Steve. "Are you serious?" he thundered.

"Yeah," she said because she could see how he didn't get the situation. Mick and Wade understood… it had taken nothing to convince them that this was the only way. She didn't like the way Steve was looking at her, like he didn't recognize her.

"What happened to you mom?" he asked. Oh, the guilt trip. Trying to stab her right in the heart, he was. "What happened to the woman who used to make fired baloney sandwiches and was on the PTA? And who showed me how to paddle an outrigger? And used to teach me magic tricks? I mean, where'd you go?"

Oh, he was so angry. And so… upset. Underneath that hulking male exterior he was still her son, the boy she had left behind and apparently dealt irreparable damage to. She had broken her son. And it broke her heart to see it. To think that he thought she enjoyed this more than she enjoyed being his mother.

"You think I wanna be doing this?" she asked instead trying very hard not to cry. "Honey, I'm trying to start over but I can't until I know we're safe. You know without that microfiche we're vulnerable. I have to get it back. I will get it back."

"Okay," Steve said after she had gotten it all out. "You think you got it all figured out. Talk me through it. Prove it to me."

He really was her son.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

"The prints I ran through the FBI database belong to this man," Doris said pointing to a picture she had printed out. A baby-faced looking idiot in a suit. "James Austin. He's ex-military, dishonorably discharged."

Steve stood across from the three older idiots standing in the small room covered in pictures in blue prints. He held the filed to him as he took this all in. He couldn't believe this was happening. "What's his interest in the microfiche?" he asked.

"No interest," Mick told him. "He was just a hired gun."

"Hired by who?" Steve asked.

"Tyler Cain. We were in the CIA together. After that he opened a private military company, supplying mercs to everything dictator with a check book," Doris told him. Wade handed Steve a photo to look at it. It was the profile of a grey hair old man in a suit. "But now he's about to be appointed Director of National Intelligence, which requires Senate confirmation"

Steve nodded. Oh, he had some theories about this. "Okay, so let me guess. While Cain was with the agency, he did some things that the Senate wouldn't approved of. The only evidence of that is on the microfiche."

"Exactly," Doris said with a nod.

"It begs a question," Steve snapped. "Why doesn't he just destroy the microfiche? Why is he holding on to it?"

"Same reason Doris held onto it for so many years," Mick answered for his mother. "Leverage. A lot of ex-operatives could get burned by what's on there. Cain could use that to his advantage."

"All right, you said you know where it is," Steve said, because it was true, they had.

"First Honolulu Tower. Cain keeps it in a safe in his office on the 16th floor," Wade told him.

"But getting it back won't be easy," Doris said. "The building is highly secure. There are at least 10 armed guards stationed inside around the clock. There are cameras at every entrance, in every hallway, every stairwell, and every elevator. And then there's the key cards. There's not a single door or entrance in the entire building that doesn't require one."

Doris then flashed a card, Steve instinctively knew that she had gotten access to someone else's security card and then cloned it onto the one in her hand.

Steve looked over the blue prints, over the pictures and again and then turned back to his mother. "Okay, what about the safe?" he asked.

"Well, that was a little harder," Doris admitted. "The safe is voice-activated. But with time and patience, we were able to record Cain's voice and cobble together his pass-phrase."

His mother shot a little glance to Mick and then to Wade, both of which were smiling as if they were the cats who caught the canary. All of them were so fucking proud of this crime they were about to commit.

"Honey, you don't have to worry. We so got this covered," Doris said. Her attempt to talk him out of coming of course. Which wasn't going to happen.

"Look, you guys have done your homework, all right? But once you're inside, something's gonna happen that you didn't plan on. Okay? You know that. And one mistake with this level of security could be deadly," Steve reminded them. His mother actually had he nerve to roll her eyes a bit at him and smile off into the distance as if she thought he were ridiculous. So, Steve drove home his point. "I'm sorry but this isn't a mission it's a suicide pact!"

"Oh, please," his mother sighed under her breath.

"Was he always this negative?" Mick asked.

"Well he didn't get it from me," Doris said. Oh, like he had gotten it from his father?! Actually, it was the Navy that taught him to be realistic… and maybe a bit of his dad too.

"This is crazy! You know what people your age are doing? They're not planning covert ops, okay? They're in book clubs!" Steve reminded them and got a round of disapproving comments from all the seniors in the room. Steve just kept talking over them. "What they do at night time? They play bridge at night! And besides, you two, you should not be enabling her!"

"Thank you for your input, Steve, but this is happening," Doris told him in her stern no-talking-back-mom-voice. "You wanna stop us, arrest us. Otherwise we're going in tonight."

Steve stood there. Obviously, he'd need to go with them. Obviously, he'd be going in with Doris, he'd have no choice. He wasn't going to watch from the sidelines, he wasn't going to arrest them either. They were painting him into a corner.

"Just curious, kid, but did Rowan tell you about this?" Mick suddenly asked.

Immediately Steve's head whipped up at the sound of Rowan's name. "Uh… no… why?"

"Cause she knows too," Mick said. "Figured she snitched."

"I'm sorry," Steve said shaking his head clear of the shock and turning a glare to his mother. "You got Rowan involved in this?"

"No!" Doris cried indignantly. "She broke in. She saw the blueprints. She knew Tyler Cain. Other than that, I don't know what she knows. Or why she broke in."

"Well did you ask her?" Steve asked.

"No. Her and I still aren't talking," Doris told him quite primly. The way she said it made Steve think that she was still upset about the turn in relationship between her and the younger woman. "She did have a bit of seizure when she was here. She touched my shoulder and I swore I got electrocuted by her."

"Yeah she's been doing that when she touches people," Steve said. "I think its her visions. Don't know about the electric shock though."

Steve then turned to Mick ignoring the way Wade and Mick were staring at him like he was nuts. They weren't briefed on Rowan and her… specifics and he wasn't about to do it now. "Don't you have a guy following her?" he asked, because he was paying for that still.

"Yes, and I followed her a bit too," Mick admitted. "She spends a lot of time in that prison, Kid."

Steve winced. Yeah, he had heard that too. "Okay, so she knows, does she know when?" he asked instead.

Mick and Doris exchanged glances. "We don't think so," Doris answered. "Is… uh… is everything okay with her? Does he… does he have something on her?"

The he was obviously Wo Fat. "I honestly don't know. I don't know what's going on with her. She doesn't talk to me. She doesn't answer anyone's questions. She was so determined to keep seeing Wo Fat that she went above my head to the Governor to get approval. If he has something on her it would make sense, sort of, but I don't know what he could possibly have on her."

"Could be Stolkholm," Mick offered.

Steve nodded. "Yes, and I told the Governor that. He has her seeing a shrink. But I haven't heard anything about that either."

"Well… why would you?" Doris asked and Steve sighed, because she was right. He wasn't a part of Rowan's life anymore. Rowan had kicked him out, him and his mother. But not any of his friends, she had kept those for herself.

Instead Steve looked down to all the plans and then looked back at his mother. He had lost a lot in the last few months, and he wasn't going to let his mother go down for this, no matter how much she didn't want to include him. So, he sighed deeply to himself, ran a hand down the back of his head and said:

"So, when are we hitting this building?"

"No, No, honey, there is no way I'm going to let you do this," Doris said. It wasn't the first time she had said it either. But it wasn't going to change Steve's mind.

"Mom, somebody's gotta watch your back," he said loving the way his mother's mouth dropped open in shock. "This guy Cain isn't somebody you wanna mess with."

"I've got Mick and Wade, I'll be fine," she said and beside her the two older men nodded.

Steve shook his head. "Listen, three retirees launching a covert op? How do you think that's gonna go down?" he asked.

Doris was starting to get frantic. He saw it in the way she shook her hands at him. "No, no, you can't risk it. Steve, you've got too much to lose. Your job, your whole life here… Rowan." she said.

Oh, the dig there. Well, unless his mother hadn't noticed, he had already lost Rowan. He wasn't about to lose anyone else over this now.

"Just listen to me. Forget all that, okay?" he said. "I lost you once before. I'm not gonna lose you again."

His mother just stared at him so he said it again. "I'm going with you."

And Doris stopped arguing.

KAY JP This should clear things up about that two year old baby bit.

The two year old Baby was in reference to Trevor, who was two years old when his sister died explaining why he hadn't realized he wasn't an only child until he was 10 and his parents were getting a divorce because they couldn't get over a stillborn baby. That whole chapter part, which is in Chapter 28 if you need to re-read it, is to explain what brought Rowan to the Five-0 universe, explaining why she didn't exist and how it affected her family, her brother and their lives. It also was to open up the story arc for Trevor because he needs to meet Malcolm somehow right? Feel free to ask me anymore questions :D