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A/N: Alright, we are officially all caught up. This here is the 3rd daily update and we've coincidentally have three updates left before we get to that First I'm so excited about. Are you guys getting excited too? Well, if you're not excited for the first, get excited about this. Someone… well two someone's… are gonna get into a fight at the end of this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this part so I hope you guys enjoy it! As always, don't forget to review and I'll see you guys tomorrow!
Chapter 70
They caught the guy. Rowan's morphine induced vision had led them in the right direction. The Tour network she had been rambling on about had been in reference to the Tor Network which was better known as the Dark Web. From there they got emails, both on that network and off that lead to the lovelorn idiot who had hired a guy to kill the guys the girl he wanted was sleeping with. He figured if he killed one of her john's she'd stop hooking herself and they could be together.
On top of that he knew why those men had grabbed Rowan. The cleaners, they had found her in the house. She was a witness. They were going to take her back to their boss to decide what to do with her from there. He didn't know what a CEO that was okay with a husband spying on a wife would have been willing to do to silence Rowan and he was glad that he wouldn't have to ever find out.
Steve kept staring at Catherine because he was amazed how unaffected he had been when he found out she had been shot. Of course he was worried, of course he was scared, not as scared as he had been when he had sat by Rowan's dying body and held her hand. Nothing compared to that. Not even sitting beside Catherine waiting for her to wake up. He had been upset. Obviously. But not even his worry for Catherine was even close to what it felt like to stand by and watch as the body of someone you cared about pitched and twitched as they attempted to shock their heart back into a normal arrhythmia. And now she was somewhere in King's Medical Center, all morphined out and unaware how much he appreciated her assistance.
After arresting the guy, Steve went straight to the hospital. He wanted to check on Billy, he wanted to make sure that Rowan was okay, because she said somethings during that phone call that worried him. He wanted to know about the IV she may or may not have ripped out of herself, if that vision had knocked her flat to the ground like Billy said it had and to make sure that she knew he was grateful. But getting to the hospital, finding Rowan curled up to Billy was not what he expected to find.
"She just sort of passed out," Billy said to him. "She's a cuddler."
Yes, yes she was. "I'll take her from you," Steve said.
"You may want to get her phone, it's under the chair by the door. It goes off every couple of minutes," he said. Steve quickly obeyed. He didn't mean to open up the screen when he did but there it was all her messages. Alex, some guy named Pete G, Grace and Danny. She had a lot of texts from Danny. What hell was he doing texting her?
He pocketed the phone and then returned to Billy who was trying to pull his arm out of Rowan's grasp.
"Here, you gotta give her something else to hold," Steve told him putting a pillow to her hands that she immediately chose to hold instead of his arm. Once she had let go of Billy Steve rolled her over and then picked her up. The pillow dropped from her grip and her arms wound around his neck, she groaned out his name. He didn't know how she knew it was him but it made him smile to hear her say his name that way. He noted that one of her arms, the one that had been in the sling earlier that day was wrapped up by the elbow. Right where an IV would go. She had ripped open her arm, she really had ripped an IV out of herself.
"I promised," she whispered against the skin of his neck. Promised… what did she promise?
"I can see why Cath worries about you and her," Billy said and Steve turned to him surprised. She told Billy about that? Why? "I don't think she realizes that she's like that with everyone."
No. Catherine didn't realize that. And up until that moment Steve realized that he hadn't either. He looked down to the girl cradled in his arms and realized that she didn't treat him special. She treated everyone the same, well, the people she thought deserved it, that even included Wo Fat. She was the living embodiment of loyalty and kindness. He excused himself from Billy promising to return once he got Rowan back to her room and then walked away with the girl who held his heart cradled to his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her.
He got to the room the nurse said it belonged to Rowan at that moment and carefully dropped her onto the bed. She murmured softly and then whispered: "Alex? Can we go home now?"
She had never confused him for Alex before, it had always been the other way around. It shouldn't have bothered him but it did.
"It's not Alex, its Steve," he said to her. It shouldn't have mattered but the frown that creased her face at the sound of his name bothered him even more.
"I didn't do it," she said, rolling over. "Whatever it is. I didn't do it."
He wanted to say that it wasn't what he was there for, but he didn't get a chance to do that.
"You got something going on with that girl you want to tell me about, kid?" Joe White said making his presence known.
Steve whirled around. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to Miss. Pierce," he said. "That's her, right?"
Steve looked down to Rowan who was asleep holding her pillow tightly again. "Yes, but… uh… she's kind of out of it right now."
Joe came to stand beside him. "I can wake her up," he said and then he pinched the nerve in the back of the leg, right behind her knee. Rowan came to, sitting up howling in agony. Steve's automatic response was to grab Joe's wrist and twist it away from Rowan.
"Why?" she howled to the two of them.
"Wanted to ask some questions," Joe said ignoring Steve's glare his eyes focusing only on Rowan. Purposely. Rowan glared up at him as she rubbed the back of her leg and then turned her weary eyes to Steve and scowled.
"No. No more questions. Go away. Both of you just go away!" she said and then threw herself back down to the bed.
"I just wanted to know how you knew," Joe said. "You saved Billy, and I'm grateful. But I want to know how you knew."
Rowan sat up again, much quicker than she should have. "Say that again?"
"I want to know how…"
"No the other part."
"I'm grateful?"
"Yes. You're grateful? Really?" she asked.
"Well… uh… of course. Billy was one of my own and well… I'm very grateful you called 911 when you did," he said.
"Okay, I guess I can answer your questions," Rowan said primly turning only to fluff up her pillows so she could lean back on them comfortably. The smile on her face growing as she did so. Wow, what a turn around. "What was the first one again?"
"How did you know to call 911?" he repeated.
"Ah, yes, well, I was in the area, and I heard the shots…"
"You were in the area?" Joe asked. "The secluded area. In the woods?"
Rowan blinked her eyes. She clearly had no response for that, and she wouldn't. If she was still on morphine her mind wouldn't be quick enough to think up for something snappy to say.
"Doesn't explain how you made the call a whole ten minutes before the situation even went down," he said.
Rowan stared at him silently and then reached for her phone which Steve had left on the side table. She fiddled with it a bit ignoring the two men in the room, and Joe White waited patiently as she did so. She stared at it intently before she turned back to him and said: "Danny told you I was psychic. Why didn't you just lead with that?"
Steve hung back, just listening, because he couldn't believe this was happening. How quickly she bent to Joe's will. How malleable she became when he told her that he was grateful. Maybe that was what they were missing. He had taken her for granted and she had left. But how had she not known that he appreciated every single thing that she had done for him and his team?
"Because I don't believe it," Joe said.
"Okay… well… I saved Billy's life with a vision. Why don't you believe that?"
"Because I don't. I think you knew. You knew that shooter was going there and you tried to warn them," Joe said.
Rowan frowned. "Well, no duh, that's what the vision was about."
"That's not what he means, Rowan," Steve clarified and Rowan frowned again like she hadn't understood but had deliberately missed the point.
"You want me to prove it, don't you?" she asked. "That's why you're here."
Joe nodded and she huffed. "Why didn't you just say so?" she asked. "Do you get a kick out of making everything so much more difficult for everyone?"
Steve was inclined to believe that he did. Joe White just Shrug, his face staying passively the same like it always did.
"Okay. Uhm… oh! I know!" she cried. "He told Danny to get you off the whole looking for you mom thing."
Steve turned to Joe who had the decency to look shocked. He had done what now? Rowan then turned her eyes back to Steve. "She went missing huh? I told you she would."
Why? Why did she have to hit him with an I told you so?
"Danny told you," Joe growled. Oh so it was true?!
"Mm, true Danny was in the car and he's notoriously bad at keeping secrets," she said softly. Steve wondered why she didn't just give him the phone to prove that it wasn't in the text messages. Instead Rowan actually looked like she was thinking of a second thing to say. HE was slightly curious about what that secret could be. "Mmm… okay. He uh… he broke into your house today. Took something from your dad's tool box. Numbers I think from inside the tape recorder? Not sure what they mean."
Rowan put a hand to Steve her fingers enclosing around his wrist, he waited for the jolt of electric desire, and while there was no static shock, heat did travel up his harm. After a second of hmmming she dropped his arm, turned back to Joe and then said: "Nope. Nothing. I got nothing… wait… wait… something about a zombie? And Max in an inflatable muscle suit? Okay… that can't be… uh… Why is he looking at me like that?"
Joe White was staring at her. While Steve glared at him. "You broke into my house?"
"Well to get to your garage," Rowan said.
"Shut up Rowan!" Steve snapped and then went back to glaring at Joe.
Joe merely shrugged. He didn't answer he didn't give a single explanation. He instead turned to Rowan and said: "Alright, if you're so psychic, where is Doris?"
"She's gone back to work for the CIA which is surprising because I didn't think they had a geriatric unit, but I guess it's like the whole RED situation. I love that movie."
"Is there something wrong with her?"
"Yeah, she's hit her head again, they gave her something for the pain. She gets a little loopy when she's on morphine. She's better than before so she must coming off it."
"The morphine was for my elbow, Commander McAsshat. They had to pop it back in place and it hurt like a mofo."
"Commander McAss… Okay, you know what, I didn't like McStupid, or McGrumpy or any of the other McNicknames you've come up with. It wasn't funny then it's not funny now. Stop it!"
"Sure thing Commander McKilljoy."
"I will arrest you," he threatened pointing a stern finger in her direction.
"You can't arrest me for lightly bullying you," she said sticking her tongue out at him. Why did she have to be so cute? He could barely hide his smile, nor the gaping hole in his chest that reminded him just how much he had missed this kind of interaction between them.
"Okay, let's get back on track. Okay, so she's a psychic. She knows about things she's not supposed to that she doesn't tell you because you don't want to know," Joe said. "So what is this thing with Wo Fat? He's your… uh… your what?"
"My aniue," she answered.
"What the hell did she just say?"
"Brother, she called him her older brother," Joe translated. Yes that made sense. She had told him that she felt for Wo Fat the way she felt for her brother.
"How is that sociopath like your brother?" Joe snapped.
"He's nice. Under it all. When we're alone," she whispered. "Trev… my brother… he… he was like him. Misguided and he felt alone. He was always better when we were together. Wo Fat's like that. He takes care of me the way Trev… my brother… did. You know… just with more bloodshed."
Joe turned his eyes to Steve who merely shrugged and said: "It's true. There are videos."
Joe looked perplexed. As if the information wasn't processing in his head. He didn't know what to do with it. "That can't be good, kid," he said to Steve. "There's gotta be something… she has to have something on him."
"True, I do. I have lots on him and lots on Doris," she answered as she settled back down in her pillows. "But that's not why he's nice to me."
"Oh? And why is that?" he asked.
"Because the first time in a long time someone cared about him. The way his surrogate mother did," she said as she held Joe White's gaze.
"He shot you," Steve reminded her. Why was he the only one who remembered that? Who thought that it was a bad thing that the man had shot her.
"A regrettable decision he made in the heat of the moment while afraid you'd catch and imprison him or kill him," Rowan answered like she had heard that sentence and rehearsed it over and over until it was time for her to spit it back at him. "He's apologized profusely, and he owes me big time! And I find that, despite recent setbacks, it's actually quite nice to have someone like that in your back pocket."
The way she said it, the way her blue eyes froze into pools of icy blue, shook Steve to the core. He was seeing a bit of that morally corrupt sociopath that Chin had told him about. The evidence that while she had rubbed off on Wo Fat he had also rubbed off on her.
"Can I go to bed now?" she asked. "No offence, but I'm tired of answering your questions."
After that they left Rowan's side but once they were out in the hallway Joe looked at him sternly and said: "You better watch that girl, kid. She's dangerous."
And Steve couldn't have agreed more.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
She knew Steve was off returning Rowan to her room. She knew that Rowan had been in there to see Billy and that Rowan was very high on morphine. Catherine wanted to see Billy to apologize. To tell him that she was sorry that she hadn't listened to Rowan that it was Rowan who called 911 and not her.
But when she got into the room, when she tried to say the words all she saw was Billy's lithe frame in the bed and realized that he was nothing like how she remembered him, she nearly broke down. He looked broken and battered and fragile all wrapped up in gauze and hooked up to a million machines.
Though anything had to be better than the dead he would have been if Rowan hadn't called 911 when she did.
"Don't look at me like that," Billy rasped. "It's not your fault."
Catherine tried to keep her tears contained but a feel escaped her. "I should have called 911, I shouldn't have gone to check if the other guy was alive, you were literally dying in front of me, you should have been more important," she hiccupped.
Billy reached out and took a hold of her hand. "Stop," he urged. "You did what you were trained to do."
Catherine nodded. She found herself laughing, wiping her tears away as she smiled at him. "I've been thinking…" Billy started. He shifted in the bed, pain crossed his features before he forced it aside. He swallowed carefully before finishing. "…about the business. About what I'm going to do next."
"Yeah?" Catherine asked suddenly very wary, especially of how he was holding her hand.
"I don't want this life anymore," he whispered. "I want to settle down. I want a wife. Kids. A house. I want a future that doesn't involve bullets. A job that doesn't always land me in the hospital. Do you… do you ever think about that sort of stuff?"
She did. She had been. She had seen that future for herself with Steve. But Steve would never stop working for Five-0. He'd never retire. He'd die on the job. Or be chasing criminals in his personal mobility scooter dragging Danny along with him. All that had gone to shit the second Steve's obsession with Rowan derailed them. Now she was certain she'd never get to see that future with him. Not unless she killed Rowan or somehow got her back home to her own world.
"Sometimes," she answered going for the non-committal response. She carefully pried her hand out of his grip and avoided his eyes.
"Kay, well I've been thinking about it a lot too," he replied. "And the person I always see myself with, is… well… I see myself with… you."
Catherine found herself wide eyed with surprise. He knew, he knew that she was Steve. He had said that… well… he knew that she wanted to stay with Steve, that she was mostly happy with Steve.
"I know what you're thinking," Billy told her. "And I saw them you know. Rowan and Steve. I… uh… I don't think it's her that's the problem."
Catherine frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
"The way she is with Steve… I can see… she's like that with everyone…" Billy started.
"To a degree… but with Steve it's different. I told you, she admitted she has feelings for him…"
"And with your insistence she's backed away," Billy reminded her. "I think you're just going to have to admit that Steve wants Rowan. Not you."
Catherine backed away from him. That hurt. It hurt her to hear him say that to her. About her. About she and Steve.
"Did she put you up to this?"
"No, not really," Billy admitted. "Cath, that girl, she saved my life. I should have died. And now… I've got this whole second chance, a chance she told me to go for. And I want to, I want to grab it with both hands and hold on tight. Don't you want that Cath? Don't you want someone that wants you, and only you?"
Billy was making good points. But all she heard was a chance she told me to go for.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan rubbed the back of her leg, where she was certain a large purple bruise was forming behind her knee. She wanted to call Wo, she wanted to tell him to get Doris to come back. She was going to visit him in prison, soon, right? Maybe if Wo told her that Rowan was sorry, maybe she'd come back and be Steve's mom again.
Ugh. Why did morphine withdrawal make her so sentimental?
"You fucking bitch!"
Well, that sounded an awful lot like Catherine. Rowan looked up and saw Catherine standing at her door. Rowan blinked her eyes. It was Catherine? But… what the hell could she be mad about? Rowan hadn't done anything recently… had she? Was she hallucinating again?
Rowan looked around the room to see if there was someone else Catherine could be shouting at but she was the only one in there. Rowan pointed to herself and mouthed the word "Me?" to her to which Catherine merely screamed: "Thought you could tell Billy to make a move on me so you could get Steve to yourself, huh?"
Rowan blinked her eyes again. She had? When? Wait… she didn't talk to Billy much before she passed out. So like… What. The. Fuck? "Uh….""—You thought that would really work? That I'd let Steve go just like that because Billy was interested?..." "—…Whaaa?" "—Don't you dare act innocent, it may work on Steve, but it won't on me. I know what you're like, you selfish brat! So, admit it! Admit that you told Billy to make a move on me. Admit it!"
Rowan just stared at her. What was happening? "Uhm… I'm sorry… I'm not sure… I don't think I… what are you talking about?"
Catherine stood in front of her, just a few short steps away. Nostrils flaring, eyes filled with a murderous rage. Rowan thought she had nullified her that maybe her question would show Catherine that she didn't understand what was happening but she was wrong.
Catherine roared with rage and charged her. Rowan could only get out the squeak of surprise before Catherine collided with her, sending her flying off the hospital bed and down to the floor.
Oh Rowan's head did not like that. Catherine was the first to recover. She got on top of Rowan and slapped her, hard. "Admit it!" she kept shouting. With each slap she said it again. Rowan kept trying to deflect her, but Catherine had more training and was much stronger. Which made no sense because she had just been shot!
SHOT! Yes! That was it.
Rowan stopped struggling with Catherine's hands and dug her fingers into the gauze that was just under her shirt. She dug into it until she felt the something snap and her finger sink into the wound. She kept on pressing even though Catherine was screaming and reeling back and Rowan felt like she might vomit at the mental images flashing in her head from the sensation under her fingertips.
Catherine punched her, coincidentally in the same elbow she had ripped the IV out of herself, and while that hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, it still gave Rowan the time to slam her feet into Catherine's chest. Effectively knocking her off of her. Rowan grappled onto the bed, forcing herself to pull herself up and then hoping over the bed so she could have something between her and Catherine.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted at her. "I barely talked to Billy and I sure as hell didn't tell him do anything to you! So stop it! Just STOP IT!"
Catherine roared again, she vaulted over the bed, but this time Rowan was ready. She set herself into the ground, she waited for Catherine to be close enough, and then she grabbed the arm that Catherine had out to grab her, forced Catherine low into the tackle and then dropped all her weight onto Catherine's neck and upper back.
The two of them went down in a second, but at least Rowan was on top. Rowan quickly got onto Catherine's back, straddling her down and forcing her hands above her head.
"I'm not letting go until you calm down!" Rowan shouted at her, but that was a lie. She was in the position for three seconds before a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and then she was thrown to the side.
She hit the wall and watched as Steve went to Catherine who was conveniently crying all of a sudden, like the snake she fucking was. Alex pushed past both of them to get to her, concern written all over his face.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
"No, she fucking attacked me," Rowan hissed. "Out of fucking nowhere. It was self-defence, I tell you."
"She told Billy to make a move on me," Catherine hiccupped. She was standing, Steve's hands were on her shoulders, his eyes looking her over. So that's what it looked like when Steve did that. She had only ever been on the receiving end of that. "She did it to ruin us. She taunted me and everything."
"I did not," Rowan cried. "I don't even know what you're talking about!"
"Okay, let's just calm down a bit!" Steve said but Rowan was past calming down. She was just so fucking angry.
"No! I will not be calm! Do you have any idea what I went through today?" she shouted, pushing Alex off of her and storming over to where Catherine was cowering into Steve's chest. "Yeah, yeah, poor you, you got shot! But if you had just listened to me when I called you NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!"
Steve put a hand out to ward her away, but Rowan slapped it out of her way. "Do you have any idea what I save you from? Do you? Fucking ask Steve. He knows," she cried. "I saved you from a life of guilt. Of spending every waking moment wondering what you could have done differently, or if you could have changed things. Do you wanna know why? Because if I hadn't intervened tonight, if I didn't go to Steve's to get a goddamn vision off of him, Billy would have died because your dumb ass not only checked a dead guy's pulse before leaving, but you fucking try to drive him to the ER yourself! And you know what you didn't fucking say to me? Thank you!"
Catherine's eyes were wide, but Rowan wasn't done yet.
"None of you, have EVER said thank you to me. I have put myself through hell and back trying to save you people, trying to stop the bad things from happening and not once have you said thank you. NOT ONCE!" she shouted. "Why can't you just say THANK YOU?!"
But even with that tirade, even with tears brimming over, and her chest heaving, not even then could they say thank you.
"Okay… uh… but what happened with Billy?" Steve asked instead.
Rowan struggled to keep her composure. She swallowed all the anger and disappointment, and glared darkly at Steve. "I went into his room, high off morphine because you requested a goddamn vision, I'm guessing cause dumb ass over there—" she indicated to Catherine who had hidden her face into Steve's chest and was now sobbing quietly. "—couldn't find the emails on the dead guy's computer. And we had a heart to heart. When I couldn't tell him his future, I merely said that maybe this was a second chance and that he should take it as such. If he took that as: make a move on Catherine that is not my fault."
There was silence for a beat and in that silence she heard Catherine whisper: "She's lying."
"Okay, you know what. Fuck this. And fuck you people," Rowan said. "Get the fuck out of my room or I'll tell Steve the real reason why I stopped talking to him and the other Five-0's."
Catherine pulled her head out of Steve's chest. She seemingly gauged Rowan seriousness. Steve asked a soft: "What is she talking about?" and Rowan snapped out a growl of: "Run," and only then did Catherine decide that Rowan was serious.
She tore herself out of Steve's grasp and practically threw herself out of the room. Steve faltered, torn between staying and asking Rowan what it was that had made her stop and following Catherine out into the hallway. He turned back to her, his mouth opened, primed to ask her a question but Rowan shook her head.
"Stay away from me," she growled. "Keep your girlfriend away from me. Don't talk to me. Don't call me for visions. Don't even fucking look at me. Just go away, Steven McGarrett. Just go the fuck away."
And he listened.
She stood there in the room, dangerously close to crying, when Alex came up behind her and hugged her tightly. "Don't worry," he whispered to her. "You did the right thing. They were ungrateful. They don't deserve your help."
Rowan didn't want to argue. She didn't want to tell him that even though Steve and Catherine were ungrateful, Danny and Chin weren't, and neither were the victims she often saved.
Instead she said: "Can we just go home?" her voice sounding tired even to her. She just wanted to go to sleep. And hopefully. This time. She wouldn't dream.