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A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's late! For those people who like Catherine, you're not gonna like the end of the chapter. Let's just say someone is gonna get a major lecture. So guys, we're 8 more updates away from someone's first that I'm really excited for! And we're 6 days away from a SURPRISE! You guys got a lot coming for you! Don't forget to tell me what you think about this chapter!

Chapter 65

Chin found Danny, or maybe Danny found him, not that it mattered. He was in a sour mood. This case was a sombre one. A child had lost its parents over whatever these people were looking for, which meant a stronger drive, particularly from Danny, to get this one solved as soon as possible. That and his phone call wasn't a good one either.

"What's up?" Danny asked him as soon as Chin looked up from his phone.

"Nothing, I just got off the phone with Kono," he answered. He didn't really want to go into detail about how he missed his cousin and he felt basically the odd man out. Steve had Danny, Chin had Kono, but with Kono gone… well he still had Steve and Danny, but he didn't have the Danny to his Steve, or the Steve to his Danny. He and Kono could never agree on which one they were.

"Yeah, is she okay?" Danny asked already concerned.

Chin nodded. "Yeah, she and Adam just made it to Hong Kong so they're safe for now," Chin said. "But she had this odd phone call from Rowan and now she's not picking up. And since Kono so stressed about everything right now I didn't have the heart to tell her that Rowan cut us all out, which I guess meant her too."

Danny nodded. He did that thing where he half pivoted to look around him before making sure that he was alone. Oh. He had a secret. It must have been a Rowan one. Kono loved Rowan Secrets, they were her favourite to sniff out and to keep.

"I uh… I actually just found out why that happened," Danny said in a soft whisper.

Chin's eyebrows shot up. "You did? When?" he asked.

"Yeah… I uh… I kind of accosted her two weeks back," he admitted. He had? He thought that was just finding out? Why hadn't he told Chin earlier? Oh god that didn't bode well.

"Okay, well… spill… what is her big issue with us?" Chin asked.

"Uh… nothing… she has no problem with any of us," Danny said. Chin blinked his eyes, well that made absolutely no fucking sense.

"Well then… what the fuck is her problem?" Chin cried. Danny shushed him and he nodded. Whatever he was going to say next was going to be big, he could tell by the twinkle in Danny's eyes. Chin hoped his outburst didn't draw Steve.

"She was… uh… coerced into dropping us as friends," Danny whispered.

Chin blinked his eyes… she had what? Someone had actually forced Rowan to do something? Well damn, that was a feat in itself. But who would force her to stop talking to the only people she was close with… oh.

"Catherine," Chin breathed out and Danny nodded. Chin frowned. "She had no right to do that!"

"That is what I said," Danny cried throwing his hands up in the air.

"Rowan has no one else on this island, what the hell did Catherine expect her to do?" Chin asked.

"She read Rowan this garbage about how she and Steve can't get over one another if Rowan is always hovering around us and helping us. Made her feel so bad about the situation that Rowan agreed to cut us all out and actually went through with it," Danny said with a sigh.

Chin shook his head. "Jeezus. Who would have thought that she could be that cruel?" he asked. He thought briefly about the situation before turning to Danny and saying: "So when are you going to tell Steve?"

Danny scoffed. "Oh hell no," he snapped. "No, do you know what he'd do? That freak out would shake the island and Rowan nearly had an aneurism when I hinted at the idea. I'm thinking I let him figure it out on his own, or let Catherine slip up or Rowan let it slip. Then neither of us have to deal with it."

"Until Steve finds out we knew all along," Chin reminded him. But Danny just waved that away. Great, okay, so they were going to have to out stealth McGarrett. He wasn't even sure that was possible.

"Look, the best thing we can do right now is keep our head in the game," Danny said and Chin nodded.

"Yeah. All right, so Van Horne's insurance company sent over photos of all the valuables in their home. CSU's cross-checking it against everything at the scene," he said to Danny as he led him over to their brand-new smart table.

"Alright, so if something was stolen we'll know soon enough," Danny summed up and Chin nodded again.

"You know… do you think that maybe Rowan caved a little too easily on the whole dropping us thing?" Chin asked. It was out of the blue but he couldn't help but wonder if maybe, a little piece of Rowan wanted them out of her life.

"You know, I thought that too, but Rowan… she's like Steve. She does everything to make other people happy and I think, in her own way she was trying to make us happier because someone made her believe that her presence was putting a strain on all our relationships," Danny said.

Chin nodded, yeah that sounded like Rowan. And it sounded like Steve too. "Keeping this from him will be hard, Danny," he said to him and Danny sighed.

"Yeah I know. But if Rowan can isolate herself in a misguided attempt to make us happy, we can keep this a secret from Steve," Danny said. And Chin agreed. He could do this. He was definitely going to have a talk with her about never doing that ever again. And then he was going to make her call Kono before she left Adam in Hong Kong to find out what happened to Rowan. Oh, actually, maybe he wanted Kono to do that. Yeah, maybe he won't have her call Kono… just yet anyway.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Chin played with his phone, looking at Rowan's contact. He was in the middle of a dangerous game. It may have been easy for Danny to go behind Steve's back, but Chin knew all about McGarrett and his laser focus. A laser focus that was directed right at Rowan, sooner or later he'd figure it out simply because the he was obsessed with Rowan. Chin also felt that Steve had the right to know what Catherine had done. This was information he needed to hear, and not from him and Danny but from Rowan herself.

But Rowan was on her own. Which was another issue. Rowan didn't have anyone. And Chin didn't trust Alex. The tirade he threw at Steve, when they had been waiting to find out the outcome of Rowan's surgery, had not been welcomed. Steve didn't deserve that verbal attack and even if Alex thought he did there was a time and place. And it wasn't while they were waiting to hear whether or not Rowan would survive.

To be fair, Chin and Rowan hadn't been all that close. Steve sort of hogged all of her attention all of the time. But after her coming to break him out of prison and how well they worked together during that NLM attack he felt a lot closer to her now. At least it was confirmed that she liked and trusted him. To be honest, he and Kono sort of assumed that she preferred Danny and Steve, Steve in particular.

With his mind made up, he quickly dialed her number. It rang twice before her voice came at him in it's usually perky high-pitch.

"Hey, Rowan," he said quickly. "Danny told me what happened. I was hoping to talk to you."

There was a beat of silence before she sighed: "I knew he couldn't keep his mouth shut. Uh… sure… I'm at the Honolulu Museum of Art, why don't you meet me here in like ten minutes or something?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jerry coming into the office. He thought carefully before saying: "Uh, could you wait maybe a half hour? We still have a case to wrap up. I should be done by then. And… uh… would you mind if I brought a friend?"

"Yeah, I don't mind," Rowan said. "I'll see you then."

And then she hung up. Chin smiled at his phone as Jerry came to stand beside him.

"McGarrett and Daniel went to go get the guys," he said to Chin as if he didn't already know that. But he nodded and smiled because it obviously made Jerry happy. "Who was on the phone?"

Chin turned to him, wondering if he could trust Jerry with this. He was a conspiracy theorist after all. "I can't tell you. Not unless you swear not to tell a soul!" he said.

Jerry nodded enthusiastically. "I swear, it won't even go into my files."

Chin nodded. "There's a little bit of history you missed out on, but the short of it is that there's this girl that McGarrett's kind of obsessed with, and we basically all stopped talking to each other to her to help save his relationship with his current girlfriend. But we haven't actually stopped and I'm going to go meet up with her once the case is over," Chin explained.

Jerry stared at him wide eyed. "I didn't follow that at all."

"I'm going to go see someone and if Steve finds out we're all dead," Chin summed up and Jerry nodded.

"Kay, got it that time," he said.

Chin's phone rang and Steve's voice came at him telling him what had happened.

"Send HPD to the Honolulu Art Museum, that's where the two guys are, to steal the scrimshaw key. We're going to need a full perimeter. Also, we found the statue just where you said they were," Steve said.

"Did you say the Honolulu Art Museum?" Chin asked dread settling around his neck like some terrible weight.

"Yeah… why?" Steve asked. Oh god, he was at a cross roads now. He was going to have to Tell McGarrett.

"Uh… because that's where Rowan is…" Chin told him. He didn't want to, but at the same time, this was Rowan. If she was there when something went down she'd get into the middle of it. She may have even gone there to get into the middle of something. But wouldn't she have said so on the phone… wouldn't she?

"Rowan…" Steve whispered. "How… how do you know that?"

Wow, only been holding onto the secret for less than four hours and already he was about to be found out. Shape up, Chin!

"That's not the point Steve. If they're there and Rowan's there, there's a good chance something's going to go down!" Chin argued.

Steve said nothing, and Chin held his breath hoping Steve glossed over the whole how he knew and just dealt with fixing the situation. Then he heard Danny's worried yelps coming from the passenger seat and he let his breath out. That meant Steve was doing something wicked with the car.

"Tell Duke the situation. Tell him we're going to go in hot," Steve snapped and then hung up the phone.

Chin turned to Jerry with a shaky smile, surprised that he managed to get out of that so easily. "Wanna go see some sparks fly?" he asked.

Jerry shrugged, Chin took that as a yes and together the two left the Palace.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan hung up the phone in her hand and felt a little bit of a flutter in her stomach. A flutter of utter happiness. She was slowly getting her friends back. And that felt wonderful. To not feel alone, to not feel like the odd one out, the normal one in a room full of screaming groupies.

She didn't even care what Catherine thought. Danny was right, she had to think about her own damn happiness. And she was starting to think that maybe, her time here, in this world, was more about a second chance to do her life right. She didn't want to squander the universe's attempt to give her a second chance with worrying about stupid things like what Catherine, Alex or even Steve thought.

She put her phone in her pocket and turned to walk into the exhibit she had come to view. Simply because she wanted to get out of the apartment where Alex was still sulking. As she turned to bumped into a man, he put a hand out to her shoulder and a burst of images burst in front of her eyes. IT lasted only a few seconds but it was enough for her to know that he was a murderer, a baby was involved and he was here looking for a… a leaf? Why the hell would they want an oak leaf? They're abundant in Canada, just go there. No need to kill people over it.

He apologized for bumping into her, with a silken smooth British accent trying to hide a malicious undertone. She mumbled her own apology and then watched him walk into the exhibit that she was here to see too.

He was going to steal something from here. She had to stop him. Rowan slowly followed after him, debating this to herself. Did she have to stop him? She wasn't exactly equipped to fight him off. She'd have to be sneaky about it. But would this even be a welcomed action? Steve could handle this himself, couldn't he?

But then why get the vision? Why get it if it wasn't to be of some sort of assistance?

Before she knew what had happened she was beside him as he was staring at something. Well this was awkward. He turned to her again and Rowan forced herself to smile.

"Sorry, didn't mean to follow you there," she said hoping her smile was warm and not shaking. He merely nodded and turned away.

"Uh… I hope you don't mind me asking, but uh… where are you from?" she asked.

He turned to her again an eyebrow shooting up his forehead. For a minute there she thought he'd pull out the gun she knew was concealed in the waist band and shoot her. Instead he shot her a devious smirk and said: "England, luv."

Rowan let out her breath in a shaky giggle. "Oh, I thought so, I thought so," she murmured. She peeled her eyes off of him and turned back forward and there it was the oak leaf from the vision. HA! He was here to steal something from the museum.

If she could only distract him for a few seconds, she could snatch it out from under his nose. Luckily she didn't have to think of a distraction. The fire alarm suddenly went off and Rowan took that moment. She swiped the leaf, put it in her pocket and immediately turned around and walked away. She did her best to walk slowly, in an unsuspicious way, but she wasn't three steps away when she heard a sudden cry of: "HEY!" in that same British accent.

Rowan didn't even look back she just sprinted forward. Stairs, she needed to get to the stairs. But which stairs? This place was filled with stairs.

That momentary pause was all that was needed. The man slammed into her from behind and the two of them went flying. Once they hit the ground, Rowan slammed her elbow back into his stomach, he grunted but he didn't let go. The second time she did it, just like Wo Fat taught her but she did it harder and a fraction higher, she hit her mark. This time his grunt was a yelp of pain and he did let go.

Rowan scrambled to her feet and rushed down the stairs where Steve was coming for her.

"Go, go, go," he said to her, pushing her down the stairs while he sprinted up the steps. Rowan rushed out of the building to where she saw Chin coming out of his car. She slid to a stop in front of him and caught her breath.

"So much for a half-hour huh?" she said to him and he laughed.

"You have another vision or what?" Chin asked a clapped a hand to her shoulder.

Rowan shook her head, a big grin on her face. "Nope, was just here for a good time," she said. "The vision didn't pop up until we were off the phone."

Chin pulled her in for a hug and said: "I'm glad you're okay," he said, only to have Rowan swat him off.

"Stop, before Steve sees," she whispered. "Our reconciliation is supposed to be a secret."

Chin laughed again, "Alright, fine," he said. "Come over here and meet Jerry."

He led her over to where an overweight man with long curly brown hair was waiting for them. She smiled warmly, she was pretty sure she knew exactly who this was.

"Ro, this is Jerry, Jerry this is Rowan," Chin said. Rowan shook the offered hand as she smiled at him.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," she said. Behind her came the roar of a motorcycle that then erupted out of the front doors. Not seconds later, Steve appeared, gun drawn shooting at the man on the bike. Chin shielded her, even though she knew Steve wouldn't have missed, that there was no danger that a stray bullet would hit her.

One bullet hit the back wheel and the motorcycle popped up and threw the man off of it. The one she had elbowed really hardly. She watched Danny come around the side and get to the guy first, kicking him in the head quickly and then leaning over him as he cuffed him. He probably had a ridiculous one liner that Rowan couldn't really hear, but wished she could.

Steve was stalking over to downed thief at that point, gun lowered a look of determination on his face. She loved watching him work. He looked powerful, like an apex predator on the prowl. She often dreamed of him stalking towards her, that same look of determination on his face but with a more wicked intent on his mind. Rowan stepped away from Chin so there was no way that Steve would think that they were closer than they needed to be.

"So she's the one we can't tell McGarrett about?" Jerry asked in a hushed whisper behind her. "How bad is it?"

As if to answer him Steve roared: "ROWAN HAZEL PIERCE!" on the top of his lungs and Rowan winced. She turned and the look on Steve's face put the fear of god into her.

"Oh it's that bad," Jerry whispered almost in reverence while Rowan did her best to look imposing and like she wasn't afraid of him though for the first time… she was actually worried about how this was going to go.

"What?" she called. "It's not like I ran."

Steve stalked towards her, that look of determination on his face but it was not the look she wanted. She wanted sensual and wicked, not furious and livid.

"Where is it?" he snapped. Rowan knew immediately what he was asking about but as she was fishing the leaf out of her pocked Jerry said: "Wait… Rowan Pierce?"

Steve and Rowan turned to him. "He knows you… how does he know you?" Steve asked her.

Rowan merely shrugged. "No, I mean, I don't know her, I just know her name," Jerry said. "Rowan Pierce. That name got broadcasted on every channel. Every criminal and underground black market heard that name. It came with a message too, a message that, when decoded, led to an app but no one can crack into it. You just download it and wait for it to open."

Rowan groaned. Awww fucking Wo Fat's safety net. She had no idea he had done that much. Steve's eyes were boring into her, like lasers to her skull.

She turned to him and tried to smile. "That wasn't me," she said.

"Yes, I gathered," he growled.

"You're not that Rowan Pierce?" Jerry asked and Rowan winced again.

"No… that… yea… that was probably me… or uh… about me," she said. "It's… it's complicated."

"Oh! Tell me about the broadcast. What about the app? What does it open? Why you?!" Jerry suddenly asked but Rowan didn't get to answer any of those question because Steve was still glaring at her and honestly, she didn't want to answer them either.

She blinked her eyes and turned back to Steve who was looking to the sky for guidance. She offered the white leaf that she had clenched in her hands. He looked at it carefully before pinning her with a dry glare. "Why did you even take that?"

Rowan blinked her eyes. "Because he was looking at it. I thought it might be important especially if it was worth murder."

"Oh my god you are such a freak," he growled snatching it from her. Rowan tsked at him and backed away. Luckily, he didn't seem to care as he was already walking away from her. It was the most callous he had ever been with her and after what had happened that night after her gig, she kind of got why he was being like that with her.

And it was for the best. She needed to get things back on track for him so he could be happy. And she needed to move on so she could be happy.

When she turned away from them Chin put an arm around her shoulder and pressed her to his side. "Just so you know, I'm not happy with what you decided, I think you should tell him, but I'll respect your wishes for now."

Rowan smiled up to him, she put an arm around his lower back and squeezed him to her. "Thank you so much," she said. "I've missed you guys by the way."

"And we missed you too," he said. "Don't let anyone intimidate you into cutting us out ever again. If it happens again, you tell us and we'll deal with it."

"Don't worry," she whispered. It won't happen again she added silently to herself.

Chin offered to drop her back off at her place and she joined Jerry in the car. She purposely refused to look at Steve, but if she had she would have seen Steve watching her every move. And not with the usual loving look but with the discerning eye of an investigator searching for his next set of clues.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan walked off of the elevator and onto the posh floor of the Atlantic Records Oahu office. She went up to the receptionist sitting behind the fancy marble and metal accented front desk.

"Hi, uhm I'm here to see Pete Ganbarg," she whispered.

The woman looked her up and down before saying: "Do you have an appointment?"

"Uhm… no but… I think he'd like to see me," she said trying to sound as confident as she could. This wasn't like when she was 20 and singing her own songs at home and sending in CDs. She didn't have the time to wait. Pete wasn't going to be in Oahu for long.

The woman raised her eyebrows and puckered her lips like she had a bad taste in her mouth. "Sorry, Mr. Ganbarg is very busy."

She looked away from Rowan, back down to her computer screen where she was probably online shopping. Well that was her dismissed. Good thing she had a plan for this.

The problem was, if she went down this road again she'd be famous again. And she didn't want that. She didn't want reporters prying into her life because there was so much more to find. You know… instead of just drag racing and getaway driving and a gay brother dating a CSIS Agent.

She could just be a song writer, right? She could easily just be a really good song writer and let Alex stay in the lime light. But she knew if she went through with this, she was going to change all their lives, there would be no turning back. But she needed the money, the independence and she loved this. Why couldn't she get paid to do something she loved? So, she gathered her courage, closed her eyes and began to sing.

All you sinners stand up, sing Hallelujah. Show praise with your body, stand up, sing Hallelujah. And if you can't stop shaking, lean back, let it move right through ya. Say your prayers. Say your prayers. Say your prayers.

When she opened her eyes, Pete was standing in the doorway clapping for her. He looked the same as the Pete from her dimension. All fancy suits, slicked back copper hair and a wiry beard. Dollar signs were practically jumping out of his eyes. She had forgotten how much she had missed this, forgotten how good it felt and how good she was.

She smiled at the man that was her agent in a different time and said: "Hi, I'm Rowan Pierce. I'm going to be your new song writer."

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan had been sending him nothing but text messages. Cute photos of her and Grace as he had left her with babysitting duty so he could be here at this party and Rowan could make up her missed time with Grace. She had done Grace's nails, her hair up in fancy up-do braids and was in the process of doing her make up. They had bought pizza with the money Danny had left and were having a rom-com marathon. She had also brought over the accursed cookie-dough cupcakes that made Grace all hyper and had added at least six pounds to his hips. Danny knew Catherine had seen Rowan's name flashing on his phone. He knew Catherine had presumed that the suspicious behaviour Steve had clocked earlier that day from both he and Chin had something to do with Rowan. Neither of them was stupid, they knew he was acting squirrely cause of her. But he hadn't cracked under Steve's questioning glare yet and he didn't plan to any time soon.

They had all gone to a bar after Catherine's ceremony. They were sitting, eating, laughing and having fun. Danny, of course, was seething. The secret hew was holding onto burned under his skin. Telling Chin hadn't been enough. He was itching to tell Steve. To have him do what he will with the information. Anything to get that man out of major grump mode. But he knew he couldn't. It would ruin Catherine's night. But there was one other person he could tell.

Danny waited until they were all heading out for the night and they were exchanging small talk before making his move. He made sure he was shoulder to shoulder with Catherine, that everyone else was busy talking before he leaned in and whispered: "I know what you did."

Catherine turned to him surprised. She shot a glance at Steve before turning back to Danny and spitting out a shaky: "What?"

"I know what you did," he repeated. "I know what you did. I know why you did it. And I'm really fucking pissed you thought you had any right to do that."

Catherine stared at him, her pale face going even paler than before. "What are you talking about?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Rowan," was all Danny needed to say to elaborate. Catherine's shock face faded into a scowl.

"Whatever that bitch said…" she started but Danny shook his head.

"No. You don't get to call her that. Not when she martyred herself so Steve wouldn't think any less of you. Not when I had to berate and threaten her to get the truth out of her," Danny snapped. "I get why you did it. I do. But listen to me carefully, Catherine Rollins, you had no right to tell her she can't see Grace."

She blinked her eyes as if she was surprised that Grace was what he was upset about. Yeah he was upset that she told Rowan to cut out him and Chin too but he understood the rationale of that. Cutting out an 11 year old girl made no sense to him.

"You don't get to decide who I see. You don't get to decide who Grace sees," Danny continued. "I haven't told Steve. Rowan had an aneurism at the very suggestion, so I won't do that to her. Or Steve. Or you. But don't you ever pull something like that ever again."

Catherine nodded and Danny put on a smile for her. Steve was looking at them, giving them an odd look so it was good that they resolved it when they did. "And apologize to Chin too, he's equally as unhappy with you."

And then he left it at that. He felt a little bit better now. He'd've felt better if he had told Steve, but right now that wasn't a possibility. This would just have to do.