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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: HEY GUYS! So here's the count down. We have six 6 updates left before we get the special first I've been talking about. We have four days until you guys get something special and we're 4 reviews away from 400 reviews total. My God guys! That is A LOT. I've been getting a lot of questions about when it's going to end for them, and when Catherine's going to be gone and Rowan are going to be together. Well… by chapter 84, Catherine is gone. By chapter 88 Rowan and Steve are working on things. I know that's far away, but trust me I'm made it super cute! Chapter 92 is a 16 page monstrosity dedicated to cute fluffy d'aww moments. So we have a lot to look forward to, I promise. So for this chapter, we're going to watch Steve spiral a bit more, and I'm sad to say his spiralling is going to get worse from here. But remember by chapter 84 he's sorting himself out. See, we gotta a time line, only a little more to wait and we'll get there. See you guys on Tuesday!

P.S. I'm not sure if I heard from JP last update. So if you're out there JP please review! Not gonna lie, I'm a little worried about you!

Chapter 67

"I pulled a shoe print off the wreck," Chin said. "Tread pattern matches the shoe Dixon was found dead in."

He shot a side glance to Steve but he was still staring stoically ahead at the screen. Arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed, the vein in his jaw twitching away as he ground his teeth. Danny had texted him earlier with: Steve knows.

At first he was worried that Steve knew that Rowan and them had made up. But instead he knew Rowan was involved with the case. He didn't know that Rowan was back in their lives. Danny had texted him a back story and then texted Rowan to warn her that Steve was aware and full on livid. She had yet to respond and neither Chin, nor Danny knew if that was a good thing or not.

So far Danny and Chin were choosing to ignore the elephant in the room. Despite Steve's dark glare he had directed at them and the way his nostrils were flaring in a barely controlled rage.

"So Dixon, he, uh, follows his sister out of the wedding, and catches up with her at the scene of the accident," Danny starts.

"He's packing a gun for revenge but figures he can save a bullet and send Dahlia to her death in a fiery wreck," Steve finished. At least he was back on the case now. That was good. That was better for both of them.

"Okay, well, that's one mystery solved," Chin said. "But it still doesn't explain how Dixon ends up dead in a hotel room."

"Yeah, I don't get that either. If it's me, I'm out of there. I'm on the first plane out," Danny agreed.

"Well, why don't we do what you two did?" Steve asked his voice a fake saccharine sweetness that caused Chin to wince. Oh here it comes. "Why don't we just ask your source?"

"Source? Babe… what are you…"

"Chin found the girl without tracing her phone. You knew about the wedding before we even got to the hotel," Steve snapped. "Clearly you two are following the hunches of a psychic who works in the fucking hotel and fucking lying to me about it."

"Okay, she is just a maid…" Danny started but left it hanging there. Oh great, what a time for the great Detective Williams to run out of words.

"It wasn't like we went looking. Rowan got a hold of us," Chin told him, but that did not mollify Steve at all.

"She stopped talking to us," Steve cried throwing up his hands and then putting them on his hips to glare definitely at them. "Remember? She went crazy and turned on us all? We were all there for that, right? We all saw it. She doesn't get to decide to come back out of nowhere, and you guys shouldn't just let her!"

"Look, she has always had good intel, okay?" Chin said. "A girl's life was at stake and I wasn't going to ignore it simply because you're mad at her."

"Me? Me?" Steve cried. "Why is it just me? How are niether you not mad at her?!"

"That is not what he meant," Danny said and Chin added a quick, "No it was not." Danny plowed onward. "Babe, the girl, a girl who didn't want to talk to us, hunted us down to give us this info. Rowan is never wrong. So, we followed her hunches and look at us now, we're cooking through this."

Steve glared at them all. "We're going to the hotel," he growled.

"Aw, come on," Danny cried. "Babe. Babe, don't do this. Please. I beg of you. Don't do this."

Chin followed after them trying not to sigh. He picked up his phone and texted Rowan again. If the girl was smart, she'd throw her phone in the pool and run. Run fast and run far.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan came out of the hotel room, dropping the dirty towels onto her cart before pushing it towards the next room. She used her all-access card to open the door and then she propped it open.

She took one step in and heard a cry of: "ROWAN!" from the hallway and she frowned. She sort of recognized the voice. But why would he want to talk to her?

She stopped what she was doing and turned back around. When she poked her head out into the hallway it was Steve barrelling towards her with Danny trailing behind.

She mentally catalogued all the things he could have been mad at her about. There were so many things, what specifically had made him angry right at this moment?

"Uhm… how may I help you?" she asked as he got closer.

The expression on his face was dark. He was looking at her like he would look at one of his suspicious suspects. He was looking at her like she was evil, and maybe, after everything she had done, she kind of was.

"Cut the crap, I know you've been feeding Danny and Chin intel," he snarled. Rowan turned her eyes to Danny who merely said: "You don't have your phone?"

"It's in my locker," she breathed out.

"Oh, what you're on texting terms now?" Steve cried.

"No, come on, babe. We haven't forgiven her. She just… you know… she just…" Danny stuttered.

"I found the bride," Rowan said and Danny pointed at her and nodded.

"You found… oh is that all? You just found a car wreck miles away from the hotel, off a ridge, in the middle of an area that gets literally no reception?" Steve thundered.

"Yeah well, the visions always get reception no matter where I am," Rowan snapped. "What was I supposed to do? Leave her there?"

"We would have found her eventually," he snapped. He could have said that she could have called one of them to check it out, but she had done that. He also assumed that she had gone to the site to make sure Chin found her.

"Yeah. Dead," Rowan argued. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Admit it Steven the only reason you're mad is because I went to them instead of you."

It was like she had landed a blow. The anger got knocked right off his face and he went straight to shock. Then his face went this strange red color she had never seen before and suddenly he was shouting: "No… no… NO! That's not even… I'm not… I don't give a shit what you do Rowan!"

Rowan gestured to where they were and said: "You came to harass me at work, clearly you care about what I do, Steve."

The redness darkened and for a minute Rowan was worried Steve was going to have an aneurism.

"Your visions are getting in the way of real police work," he snarled.

"Uh… by the looks of it my visions saved someone's life."

"Oh yeah? Then who killed her brother? You knew where she was. You knew he was a wedding crasher. You're so sure that she really loves that boy and not his money, then go ahead. Tell me. Who killed him," Steve ordered.

Rowan fell silent. Oh, oh dear. "Uhm… well… uh… that wasn't part of the vision so I… uh... I don't actually know," she said. Steve half laughed, the sound empty and hollow, he then turned a wicked grin to her.

"Well you knew about everything else, so I can get you on withholding," he said. "So, unless you want me to arrest you, you better think of a name."

Rowan scoffed at him. "You can't arrest me for that," she said.

"Actually he can," Danny said. "You know, because visions aren't considered real so you must have known somehow and we can logically assume that you knew because you were involved or a witness."

Rowan turned her eyes to Steve again. "Really?" she whispered. "But… you know I have…"

"Tell me who, Rowan," he growled. "Tell me who or I'm taking you out of here in handcuffs."

Rowan couldn't tell him, and when she was silent Steve surged forward, the second he made contact with her she knew. She knew who it was but it was too late, she didn't want to tell Steve anything, she didn't want to reward this behaviour. He forced her hands behind her back and hand cuffed her, not being even a little bit gentle with her like he had been before. He dragged her through the front lobby and even told her boss that they were taking her in regards to the recent murder in the hotel.

Well that was her fired. And she had liked this job. Only had it for a week. Wouldn't be able to use them as a reference either. So wasn't that just great?

Once outside she was thrown into the back of a HPD Squad unit. Then, right there on the curb, right outside the car, Steve and Danny argued over what Steve was doing. She didn't listen, she focused on Duke who was in the front of the unit looking all sorts of uncomfortable with the situation.

"Hey, uhm, Duke, can you give Danny a message? Only Danny. Not Steve." she asked. When Duke nodded she said something simple and easy, a quick message to relay that her boys would understand.

Head of Security.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan had been right.

She was right about where Dahlia had been. Even the tip she had given Danny had been right. It was the Head of Security. But most of all she had been right about him.

He was angry she had gone to Chin and Danny instead of him.

He had gone with Danny, and Nathan, the jilted groom to the hospital to witness their impromptu wedding. And it was just touching. That two people could love each other that much and make things work. That this man, forgave this girl for lying to him, because despite the lies he knew she loved him and he loved her and in the end that's all that mattered.

It should have made him think of Catherine. He should have thought about how he wanted that with the girl he was dating, but all he thought about was Rowan and how he wanted that with her. It was wrong, he knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help it. The feeling just welled up inside him until he had no other choice but to act on it.

So he drove, recklessly behind the wheel of Danny's car, telling Danny he was just desperate to get to his truck which he had left at the Palace to get home and wait for Catherine. But that wasn't true. As soon as Danny drove off, he was rushing into the Palace, jogging through the hallways to get to her.

He had no speech. He was not prepared in anyway. His plan was to wing it and hope to god it went the way he wanted this to go. His heart was swelling up in his chest he was worried the emotion might cause him to float away, or that maybe he'd explode.

But when he got to the Five-0 head office, Chin was standing at the smart table, probably working on the paperwork to close up the case, a task Steve had left him with partially in punishment for taking Rowan's call. He looked up to Steve surprised and smiled warmly at him while Steve blinked his eyes surprised. He was hoping he'd be alone for this.

"What are you doing back here? Did the wedding go well?" Chin asked.

"Yep, it was beautiful. I think they'll be happy together for a long time," Steve said. "Uh… I'm just going to release Rowan…"

"Oh, I already did that," Chin said and Steve stopped walking towards the elevator and turned back to Chin.

"You… uh… you did?"

"Well we had nothing to hold her on," Chin said turning back to the smart table. "The withholding information was a stretch. There was nothing to tie her to the case. So I let her go home."

Everything deflated out of Steve and he was hit with a sudden moment of clarity. What the hell had he been thinking? He was really going to go down and tell the girl he had just arrested that he had feelings for her while she was zip-tied to a goddamn chair? Really how well did he think that was going to go? Rowan would have killed him the second he freed her and he wouldn't have blamed her.

"Right," he said. "Yeah, makes sense. Uh… I'm going to… I'm going to head home. Have a nice night Chin."

He left in a daze. Amazed that he actually almost went through with such a terribly thought out plan. He got in his truck, stunned that things went that far, and forced himself to remember that Rowan didn't want him. Rowan wanted Alex. And Wo Fat. Not Steve and all the stability and adoration he could offer her.

This was a close call. And what he needed to make sure of now was that he never lost control like that ever again.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

That wedding had knocked some sense into Danny. He did see a future with Gabby, but not one that had him in it. He couldn't keep having Gabby leave and come back, he wasn't going to move either, because Grace needed stability and Grace needed him.

That led them to a heart-felt conversation where Danny ended their relationship.

Gabby left that night. Not because Danny asked her too but because she wanted to, she felt less awkward about leaving then staying now that they weren't together.

Danny was perfectly comfortable with wallowing in his stupid dumb luck. With sitting in misery drinking beer until it was time to go to bed. He almost wanted to text Steve, knowing that he'd come over in a heartbeat to comfort him, but he didn't want to do that, he had his own life and things to deal with. And in those five minutes after the door closed behind Gabby, while he sat there staring at his phone and debating texting his best friend, he got a text.

A simple two-word text. From Rowan.

Open up.

Danny went to the door, not sure what to expect. Though really, he should have expected that Rowan would be standing there. Seeing as she was asking him to open the door. He wasn't expecting her to have girly alcohol and ice cream.

"Just saw Gabby leave, good timing I was worried the ice cream would melt," she said brushing past him to go to the kitchen.

"Uh… not that I'm not happy to see you… cause I am… but what are you doing here?" he asked her. Following her as she got out two bowls and spoon.

"Ice cream always made me feel better when I broke up with someone," she said in way of an answer.

"How did you… you know what? I don't care," Danny started and then sighed. "You're something else you know that? But… thank you."

Rowan smiled at him. "You're welcome. Non-Alcoholic or Alcoholic?" she asked.

Ohh, she really was good. "Alcoholic. As alcoholic as you can get."

Rowan poured a generous amount Bailey's into his bowl and then handed it to him. This was better than having Steve, he had a girl who understood feelings, who understood alcohol and post-break-up sugar binges, who commiserated in every single way.

A girl that stayed all night to talk to him, and agreed that he had done the right thing. A girl who ate as many bowls of ice cream as he did as a form of solidarity. A girl who made pancakes even better than Gabby for both him and Grace in the morning. A girl he realized he wanted to be happy, despite the bets he had with his friends and the amount of money he could make if things went the other way.

A girl who was quickly becoming a very good friend.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Catherine left Billy behind in the car without a second glance. He was a good friend and a good boss, and though she could tell he was vying for a deeper emotional connection, he wasn't going to get one. Despite everything that had been going on, Catherine's heart still belonged to Steve.

Speaking of Steve, her man was wearing a grey wife beater, showing off his muscles and those delicious tattoos and his pajama cargo pants made of soft fabric. It was like he got all rugged on purpose, just for her.

"I couldn't sleep," he said coming towards her. Except her wasn't waiting in his pjs because his pjs were just his boxers and sometimes nothing depending on how tired he was after their romps. "I wanted to make sure you got home okay. How was your first day?"

She looked him up and down. She wanted to believe that he was out here, really, because he wanted to see that she got home okay. She wanted him to want that, but she knew when Steve had seen Rowan, she knew in how it changed the way he moved and the way he spoke and the way the sparkle in his eyes would slowly die out.

He had seen Rowan today, despite promising her that he and Rowan were done. Despite Rowan promising that she would stay away from Steve and his friends and actually going through with that promise… well for a while anyway. He had seen Rowan and now he couldn't sleep.

"Uh… it's a big change," she admitted. She almost asked him how Rowan was doing. To prove to him how easy it was to tell the difference between a Steve that had interacted with Rowan and a Steve that hadn't.

"Yeah, I bet," he said with a warm smile. Already the sparkle she had seen in his eyes was starting to dull just a fraction. God, why did Rowan have such a hold on him?

"But in a good way," she clarified. Because this change had been good for her. She didn't miss the Navy nearly half as much as she thought she would.

Steve smiled at her and murmured some encouraging word that really meant nothing and she plowed on hoping to get him reinterested in her and his surroundings. "Yeah, Billy already got us another gig so I think… I think we're going to be busy," she told him.

"Good, I'm glad," he said and it sounded like he meant it. She only had to take one step forward and like a robot he leaned in for the kiss she wanted. The peck on her lips felt rehearsed and practiced, he didn't grab her and hold her. Instead he kept himself at a distance and seemed uncomfortably rigid.

Yeah, he had definitely seen Rowan today and not just seen. Fully interacted. He had probably held her, and argued with her and gotten all attuned to her again which meant it would take a few days to get him comfortably attuned back to Catherine again.

Fucking Rowan.

She pulled away and tried to not let the disappointment show on her face. "I'm gonna go wash up. Will you… uhm… open us a bottle of wine?" she asked heading for the front door.

"Yeah. Red or white?" he asked.

Extra attentive. Yeah, now he was trying to over compensate for being all distracted with her. Well, she could definitely use that to her advantage.

"Uhm… surprise me," she said and then disappeared into the house.

As soon as the door shut behind her she let go of that brave front she had been putting on. The truth was, being with Steve, while it made her heart light had fluffy, had gotten exhausting. Having to fight for him, having to fight a girl who wasn't really all that present, who could pop up at any point of time and made things strange and distant between then, was getting hard.

She'd have to shower with Rowan's shampoo again, or wear something that she knew Rowan would wear. Which was slightly ridiculous because Rowan's style was much more juvenile then her own. That, of course, made sense, because Rowan was nine years younger than Steve and six years younger than Catherine. It was like Steve was suddenly obsessed with a child.

She steeled herself, strengthened herself with the reminder that while Rowan may have gotten him distracted today, Steve was going to go to bed with Catherine that night. Catherine could undo the spell that Rowan had cast, she could bring Steve's mind and heart back to her, she could and she would. As many times as she had to until he was all hers and no one else's.

Rowan would not defeat her.