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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: this one is A LOT longer than I thought it would be. It's 13 pages. Sorry for that guys! Hopefully it's not too long for you. I did ramp up the d'aww factor here, despite Steve pulling a pretty dickish move. He is starting to realize just how badly he's fucked up though so that's a start right? For those of you who are worried about Rowan and Alex, you get your answer to her decision about the whole cheating thing in this chapter. Tell me what you think about that. Also we only had 1 person vote on what you'd like when we hit 500 reviews. Do you guys want a 7 day marathon, or do you want a special chapter that one lucky reviewer will get to choose? Don't forget to tell me when you review! See you Friday!
Chapter 79
All Steven McGarrett did was open a door. He opened a door and got shot in the arm. They had managed to drive away the attackers but they had lost the kid, Ian Wright, that they had tried to arrest over unpaid parking tickets. Now Steve was alone, with Grover, trying to figure out who took their kid, and how the hell they were going to get back now that both of their trucks had flat tires and they had no cell service.
While Steve was getting ink out of a ballpoint pen so he could get a finger print off of their one dead guys, Grover had been… actually Steve had no idea what he was doing. But as he was taking a picture of his thumb print Grover, while still mixing his disgusting looking orange slime, said: "This should stop the bleeding."
A poultice? Not two hours ago the man was going on about Steve should be held accountable for his actions and now the man was making him poultices? Steve looked at the nasty looking concoction and frowned. There was no way in hell he was letting the Witch Doctor from Chicago put anything on his arm.
"No, no, it's nothing, it's nothing," he said cause that was what he said to all his injuries, even the really bad ones and this one wasn't bad at all. It only Stung at most.
Grover continued to stare at Steve's arm. It was throbbing, but he wouldn't admit that. He had worse. He'd be okay. "That nothing you got is leaking pretty good," Grover snapped.
Steve finally stopped paying attention to his phone and turned to Grover to reiterate: "I'm fine."
Danny got it, Chin got it, Catherine got, hell even Rowan got it… sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes she got it. Why did Grover not get it? Steve did not like accepting people's help. End of story. Nothing to get offended over, it was just the way he was. But Grover did not take it that way.
Grover threw the spoon down to the bowl and turned away from him. "You know what? Fine," he growled. "Pass out, you stubborn son of a bitch. I don't care."
Yeah well, from the way he was acting he did care. And that was annoying. He was not going to pass out, Steve was strong and able bodied but if it would make Grover feel better, fine, he'd be the bigger man and use the damn thing.
"You know what? Give it, give it, okay?" Steve ordered, reaching for the blue bowl and the orange slime. He took the spoon and put it to his arm. "Here, here, okay?"
Fuck it was like being with Danny… except twice as moody and Steve didn't think he'd ever find anyone as moody and annoying as Danny. Steve eyed Grover who eyed him right back and then he spread a big huge spoonful of the orange stuff onto his wound and then immediately groaned in pain.
Oh holy fuck did that burn.
"Yeah, hurt don't it?" Grover asked him grinning at him like he had just won a commendation. Great so he had done that on purpose. The fucking asshole.
Still Steve refused to actually cry out and instead just let it sit there while he was in pain waiting for that terrible burning to go away. While he waited he ripped up a cloth towel and then went about trying to tie it around his own arm, with one hand.
It obviously was not going well and he really didn't need Grover carrying a conversation as if it were the two of them talking to really stick that point in.
"'Hey Grover, mind helping me tie this tourniquet?'…'Sure, buddy, no problem.'"
Steve did not need the fucking sass. Why couldn't he just have said: "Hey need some help?" like a normal fucking human being?
"Fine," Steve growled and then let Grover take over.
As Grover was wrapping and tying him up, he asked: "Now, why do you supposed these guys would want to kidnap a knucklehead like Ian?"
Grover tied it tight. Hella tight. So tight he thought, for a moment, he might actually pass out. Instead he focused on the question. "I have no idea," he told him. "We gotta get in touch with the H.P.D. as soon as possible."
Grover agreed, clearly but he still said: "Well, the kid's got no landline. Our cell service is dead up here."
Steve tried not to laugh at this. This was exactly the kind of moment where Rowan would show up with a smug smile on her face and way out of there. As if his body was attuned to her showing up he turned to the door and stared. Rowan had touched him today. If it was important, if she still cared, she'd be walking through that door looking for him.
"What are you looking at, man?" Grover asked.
The door never opened. So she either she didn't get a vision or he really had gone too far this time and she didn't care. Either way, Rowan, clearly, wasn't coming. Sighing Steve turned back to Grover and said: "We got to move."
For the second time that day. He and Grover actually agreed on something.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steven McGarrett attracted trouble.
That was the conclusion Lou Grover had come to today. Every single piece of crap he stepped in had something to do with McGarrett. From getting stuck with this punk ass assignment, to getting shot at and stranded and to make matters worse he was now on a horse, when he didn't really want to be despite all his years of training and practice he got when he was younger. He was older now and riding hurt. Especially when it was at a break neck speed chasing a car that moved a lot faster than a horse did.
Not that he was going to tell McGarrett that.
Especially after the asshole hinted that he knew exactly what it was that had brought Lou to this godforsaken rock in the middle of the pacific in the first place.
They rode. As fast as they could, urging those horses onwards. The truck whizzed past them and Steve shouted: "There they are!" as if Grover couldn't fucking tell.
They gave chase, the car drifting through the dirt. Steve lead them up and goddamn hill and through a pasture. A short cut he said. They were going to cut them off but that didn't stay that way, not when they turned the car around and now he and Steve were charging a car, shooting and charging but it wasn't going to stop.
The car was aiming straight for Steve when the sweet little red convertible with the white stripes running across the body swung out from behind it and practically forced the car off the side and away. Steve's horse was too close and as the little red convertible revved on by the horse spooked, rearing up onto its hind legs and throwing McGarrett off.
Lou had pulled his horse to a stop by the side of the road and turned to where Steve lay half on his back in the dirt, he was barely moving and seemed to be curling into himself on his side. Damn that one must have hurt. The little red car screeched to a halt, drifting through half a turn before it finally came to a stop. It was still for two seconds before a door swung open.
And there was Rowan, the same one the Governor said McGarrett was harassing, and boy did she sure look concerned for her harasser. Her red hair up in a loose bun but her hair was escaping it and was half falling down to her shoulders. As she ran to McGarrett, who was still lying in the dirt where the horse had thrown him, her green sweatshirt lifted up to bare a lot more of her mid drift than before, revealing a bit of a tattoo running up the side of her ribs.
"Steve! Steve! Are you okay?" she cried sliding to a stop in the dirt beside him. "Oh! Oh, your arm! You did get shot!"
Grover felt his eyes narrow in surprise, how did she know that? How did she know he had gotten shot before she got here? But there was something else, something in the way Steve moved. His body had stiffened before she even got out of the car, he was moving to sit up at the sound of her voice. His eyes, as soon as they saw her went wide, his pupils dilating as they fixed onto her, like a crack addicts did when they finally got that hit they had been craving.
He sat up a lot quicker than someone who had just been thrown should have and then he had grabbed her. Crushing Rowan to him, his head disappearing into her chest as he practically clung to her. After a moment's hesitation Rowan held him back, her grip softer and more practical, her hands travelling up and down his back slowly looking for any bumps or breaks.
Lou carefully dismounted and snuck towards them, wanting to see more of this. Wanting to see just when and how that negative behaviour the Governor warned Steve against would pop up.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her, his head still buried in her neck.
"Oh… uh… well I was with Chin and got a flash. About a bank robbery and a plane and you… uh… getting shot. So I figured I'd try and come up here before that happened and I saw you and Grover on the horses so I followed the car and well… here we are," she answered.
Flashes? Bank robberies and planes? Was she some sort of psychic? Was that what she was saying? Steve finally pulled his head out of her shoulder, he looked at the abandoned car, then to Grover who was standing a few feet away, and then back to Rowan. That dilated happy look that had been on his face left him and then he was glaring.
Oh, here we go. It was coming.
Quick as a viper Steve had a handcuff on Rowan's wrist. "What the…" came out of her just in time to have Steve stand and then hoist her up over his shoulder. "Steve NO!" she shouted. "Put me down! Don't you dare. Steven James McGarrett, don't you fucking dare!"
But Steve did dare. He threw her back into the car and then cuffed her to the steering wheel. He glared down at her with all the malice of a man enraged and then he walked away leaving Grover and Rowan together.
"Damn, girl, that was the quickest mood change I've seen ever," Grover said, watching as Steve went to get his horse. "What did he even arrest you for?"
"Don't know yet," she said. "But let me tell you… he does this all the time."
Grover stared at the girl, the little redhead who had just saved McGarrett from getting run over, who had driven all the way out to Waimanalo to help them only to have McGarrett handcuff her to her own car. He didn't say thank you. He didn't ask her if she was okay. He just fucking arrested her. That was cold. There was only one thing Grover could think to say to that.
"Damn."
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve had managed to call an ambulance out to where they were, which was good because he wasn't going to let Rowan out of her cuffs and she couldn't drive Chin's car handcuffed to the steering wheel. He was getting bandaged but his eyes were still on Rowan who was sitting there in the driver's seat, her long legs sticking out of the side, dust coating the knees of her army green jump suit, looking up to Grover as he talked to her.
Steve didn't like that. He didn't like that at all. But he did like one thing. Angry at him or not, she had still come to help him. She may have been late but she had come and that meant a lot to him.
As soon as he was cleared by the EMT he went to rescue Rowan from Grover. If Rowan couldn't stand his grumpiness, Grover was gonna drive her wild.
"Okay, do us both a favour and just leave her alone, alright. She's had a rough day, she doesn't need your attitude souring her up," Steve ordered.
Rowan glared at him. "You're the reason I had a bad day, Jackass!" she thundered. Steve just glared at her. "You arrested me Steven. Again! And you owe me! I babysat your niece and you said you wouldn't arrest me again."
"Seems kind of ungrateful to arrest the girl who saved our asses," Grover added. "And babysat your niece."
"Okay, do you have a proper licence?" Steve asked.
Rowan glumly answered: "No."
"And where is your experienced driver… you know… the only one you're allowed to drive with?" Steve asked and then added: "The one who owns the car you're driving."
"Okay. Yes I left him at Rainbow's but that means I loose demit points… not getting handcuffed to a steering wheel!" Rowan said. Behind her, her phone began to ring. "Oh, oh can someone… can someone grab that?"
Grover obliged her walking around the car to reach in through the passenger side window to grab her phone and then walked back around to offer it to her. She looked awkwardly twisted as she answered the phone while attached to the steering wheel.
"Hey Chin!" she cried. "Oh… uh… I don't know where I am. But Steve's here, he's arrested me again," she then waited patiently for Chin's reply. She nodded and then offered the phone out to Steve. "It's for you."
Steve sighed. Once again he was going to get yelled at via Rowan's phone. He took it from her. "McGarrett."
"Uh… wanna walk me through what's going on?" Chin asked her. Okay he sounded calm that was good for him.
"We're in Waimanalo," Steve answered. "Had a bit of a car chase, a truck was bearing down on me and Grover and uh… Rowan attempted to run them off the road in your car."
"Run them off the…" he echoed. "Is my car okay?"
"Yeah she didn't hit anyone just kicked up a lot of dust and freaked everyone out," Steve said. "Particularly my horse, which threw me."
"Your… horse?" Chin echoed.
"It's a long story," Steve answered. "Uh… I have a question… Why were you at Rainbows? I thought it was just a driving lesson."
"She was tired so we stopped for coffee… and pancakes… which I now have to pay for and pack up," Chin replied almost bitterly
"She told me she was too hyper to rest," Steve growled pointedly staring down at Rowan who avoided his eyes. Why was she lying? Who was she avoiding? Him or Alex? He'd like to think that it was Alex, but Alex hadn't drugged and kidnapped Rowan in the last twenty-four hours, Steve had.
"Uh… no she was pretty tired. Don't know why she told you she wasn't," Chin told him. Cause Rowan lied to him all the time. Just like Catherine and his mother. All the females in his life lied to him except for Kono and Grace. The only good ones in his life.
"Kay, last question… how exactly did you lose her?" Steve asked. "I mean… really… how?"
"I don't know what to tell you. I went to the washroom and when I came back both she and my car were gone. I thought I had my keys but I didn't," he said.
Steve understood that. Rowan was wily like that. "You… uh… you don't need to arrest her Steve. I didn't report the car stolen and I know I'm supposed to be with her but she's actually a really good driver… a little reckless but she's getting better."
"Yeah thanks," Steve said and then hung up the phone before Chin could say anything else and handed it back to Rowan.
Beside him Grover tsked at him. "You know… I think this is the exact thing the Governor was warning you against," he said to him. "This is exactly what he told you to stop."
"Wait… what?" Rowan asked but Grover said nothing and Steve was just struck dumb.
He stared at Rowan. He was doing it. He was using his power with Five-0 over her. Rowan's eyebrows crinkled in concern. She should have been mad at him, but instead she asked: "Are you okay?"
He glanced to Grover and said: "Can I just talk to her for a minute."
"The girl is handcuffed, I'm not leaving her alone with you," he snapped.
"Its fine, I can take Steve," she said.
Steve shook his head and glared at her. "Excuse me? Take me? I'm a Navy Seal, Rowan," he reminded her.
Rowan turned to Grover. "See, he underestimates me. Trust me I'll be fine," she said. Grover grumbled a bit but gave them their space.
Steve crouched down in front of her, offering her the key to the handcuffs. "Sorry," he whispered.
Rowan rubbed her wrists and then looked at him. "What's wrong with you?" she asked. "You got that guilty worried face, what happened? Did the Governor get mad at you? I didn't complain… honestly. I mean I probably should but you know… I didn't…"
"Do I abuse my power?" he asked her. Just blurted it out. The questions confused Rowan clearly cause she just blinked her big blue eyes at him.
"What? No!" she cried. "Steve you do whatever you have to to save people and stop the bad guy. I mean… you probably shouldn't do half the stunts you pull cause you're getting old but like… no… I wouldn't call any of that an abuse of power."
Well that was super nice of her to say. But that wasn't what he was asking her. "I mean with you. Do I abuse my power with you?"
"Oh hell yeah," Rowan said immediately and his face fell. "All the time. It's kinda scary, but I'm mostly used to it now."
Steve felt his heart stop in his chest. What?! "I do? Like… you really think that?" he asked in a small voice.
"You really didn't think arresting me because you were mad at me was an abuse of your power?" she asked him.
Steve looked away from her. "That wasn't why I was arresting you Rowan. You broke the law…"
"You arrested me for association, which you cannot do. And then for withholding information when you knew I go the info from a vision…"
"Yeah, okay I get it," Steve said. "I crossed a few boundaries."
"A few boundaries? Steve… you got me fired," she reminded him. "Twice."
Steve hung his head and Rowan winced at him. She reached out, her free hand gripped his shoulder so he would look back up at her. "Look, I've never felt like you'd actually do anything that would hurt me, if anything I feel extra protected. I know you're there for me, you'll yell at me but you'll rescue me first. But you have gotten very controlling and that is a bit scary when you are the head of an immunity and means task force that can essentially do anything you want. It's kind of why I feel safe with Wo Fat."
"My controlling nature is why you're with him?" Steve hissed. Really? Fucking really?
"Okay, not the whole reason, but it is part of it. Did you know he's set up a plan to get me away from you if you go too far?" she asked him and Steve's heart stopped in his chest. "He even has a plan to breach the Palace if you were to ever take me there. And that makes me feel better when you get like this. If Danny or Chin don't let me out, Wo Fat will send someone to get me."
Steve looked down again. She had escape plans. She… his friends and Wo Fat thought that she was in such danger from him that they had to think of escape plans to save her from him.
"I'm sorry you feel that way," he said as he forced himself to get up and put distance between them. For the first time since his mother left he felt like he actually might cry. He had never felt so hurt and betrayed before in his life and he had literally just found out that his friends had continued to be friends with the girl he was pretty sure he was… uh… in like with… without telling him.
"Aw come on, Steve. I thought we were having a moment here," she said. "Don't be mad!"
"Mad is his default emotion," Grover said, sliding into the car seat beside her. Where the hell had he been hiding that whole time. Had he heard everything she said? Cause if he had Steve would have to kill him. "And I heard what he did to you last night. He wants to be mad at you when you could be pressing kidnapping charges, that's his problem."
"Okay, look, you know nothing about that situation okay?" Steve thundered. Glaring at Grover as he uncuffed Rowan. Where the hell had he gotten the keys?
"You're not going to apologize to me, are you?" Rowan asked him looking up at him, squinting to keep the sun out of her eyes.
"No, Rowan, because I asked you nicely and you said no. You were just being spiteful," he snapped. "We both know you would have helped us if anyone other than me asked you."
Rowan stared at him. "That gig was important Steve," she whispered. "I was supposed to meet these big execs who were going to sample my songs and sign me exclusively as their writer. That gig should have made my career. Now I look unstable and unreliable and I don't get any of my cut from the profits. That gig was important and everyone else understood that… except you."
Steve blinked his eyes at her, well how was he supposed to know that? She never told him any of that. She just said no. She shut the car door and Grover did the same. "Uh… excuse me… where are you two going?"
"I'm taking him back to the palace," she said sliding her sunglasses onto her face.
"What about me?!" he cried.
Rowan glared back at him, her sunglasses sitting primly on her nose doing nothing to block out the anger that was radiating off her. "You have a horse. Ride."
And then she revved the engine and in a cloud of dust both she and Grover left him behind.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan was supposed to go home. That was Steve's edict, when he finally got back to the palace all worn out and dusty, but Rowan wasn't ready for that yet. It wasn't that she was mad, it was that she was uncomfortable and if she was alone for too long she was left to wonder why the hell she really didn't care that her boyfriend was cheating on her.
Also… Alex had stopped calling and trying to get a hold of her hours ago. So… she figured he didn't care that much either.
Rowan had gone to get Wo Fat's Audi because she didn't have her own car and she needed one. She was supposed to have a driver with her but she didn't think any of them would come with her, and the guy she was going to see probably wouldn't want Five-0 in his warehouse.
She pulled the car to a stop and quickly got out. She was met by a big burly guy at the door and she just smiled at him.
"Hello," she whispered to him. "I'm Rowan Pierce, I'm here to see Kong Liang."
He stared at her, she knew she didn't look like a hacker, at this moment she looked a little bit like one of those high school hoes or a basic Starbucks Bitch. She was only missing the Uggs.
He repeated her request into a walkie-talkie and then the door buzzed open. "Thank you," she said as perkily as she could and then she skipped in through the warehouse.
When she got to the main floor where all his techies were working on their own computers, she found the man she knew to be Kong Liang, dressed an awful lot like Wo Fat in a nicely pressed light grey suit waiting for her with open arms.
"Rowan Pierce. The girl who started it all," he called as she walked towards him. She hugged him and got the feeling that he wasn't expecting that cause he stiffened but hugged her back. "I've heard a lot about you, let me tell you."
Rowan smiled up at him. "I heard a lot about you too. Thank you for putting that app together for me," she said.
"Mm… I didn't do that for you. I did that because a homicidal maniac threatened me and then paid me," he clarified and Rowan blinked her eyes.
"Uh… ohhh… sorry. He's a little… he's a little intense," she whispered.
Kong laughed loudly at her. "What a sweet girl, let's go into my office and talk about the real reason you're here," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her through to the office.
"Ohh good, cause I have a favour to ask and I'm more than 100% positive you're not gonna wanna help me…" she whispered.
"Wow, you and your benefactor are a lot alike," Kong sighed.
Rowan laughed. "Yeah, but I'm a more kill them with kindness kinda girl… unless you piss me off than me and him get very similar very quick," she warned him.
"He did mention to keep you happy at all times," Kong admitted.
"It's a good plan," she said as he shut the door behind him she then smiled at him. "How would you like to be a good guy for the day?"
The look on Kong's face was priceless.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
A swarm of combined SWAT and Five-0 took the Honolulu international airport by storm. They sent the crowds running, people scrambling and shrieking as they went through with their bullet proof vests and automatic weapons.
It didn't take long for them to find Ian, sitting in one of the uncomfortable lounge chairs and listening to music on Grover's daughter's laptop.
He looked up, not shocked to find them standing over him guns trained on his person. Ian merely smiled smugly pulled the earbuds out of his ears and raised his hands in surrender.
"Crockett and Tubbs," he said looking at both Steve and Grover. "I knew you'd get my message."
Steve wasn't having any of this kid's bullshit. "Get up. Get up. Hands behind your head!" he ordered never once lowering his rifle.
Ian did as he was told and one he was up Steve continued to boss him around. "Interlock your fingers. Turn around. Turn around," when he did Steve grabbed him, kicked the back of his leg so the kid dropped and then handcuffed him.
As he did so Grover went for the laptop that belonged to him. "You don't wanna do that," Ian taunted them but he couldn't be farther from being wrong.
It was then that Grover noticed what was on the laptop. He called Steve over and the two of them stared at what was on the screen. A GPS tracker for a plane, running in real time. What the hell had this hacker done?
"You think I brought you here without a plan?" Ian taunted him. Oh this fucking kid. This absolute evil genius.
Steve said nothing and just turned to him. So Ian continued. "That is flight 408 out of Los Angeles. Three hundred five passengers, eight crew, two pilots. Schedule to land here in Honolulu in just over two hours," he told him. But he wasn't done. "See we've advanced so far technologically, we're no longer satisfied with a simple, your flight's on time. No, see, we wanna know every detail and we wanna know it now. You know what makes all of that possible?" When no one would answer his question he answered it for them: "GPS."
Steve knew the answer, he was sure Grover did too. But neither of them knew what the play was here. Clearly some sort of barter but in what world did this kid think he could ransom a whole plane for his release and not have Steve hunt him down to make him pay? In his pocked his phone buzzed as Ian kept talking Steve checked it. Rowan. He had already missed three calls. He ignored this one and put his phone on silent. He'd deal with her later.
"Most people don't realize it was created by the Department of Defense during the Cold War as a weapon. Allowed our subs to get an accurate fix on their target before firing off a missile. But when government opened it up to civilian use, they cheaped out. They didn't wanna spend the cash to encrypt civilian GPs like they did military, which means that everything that gets it data from civilian GPS is vulnerable to be hacked. Shipping lanes, trains, car navigation, and, of course, commercial airlines."
Oh this kid was so proud. So smug. He was about to get fucking smacked.
"What the hell have you done, Ian?" Steve asked.
"It's not what I've done, commander," Ian answered. "It's what I will do."
Ian got to his feet, hands still behind his back to stare Steve down. "I have control of Flight 408. If you don't do exactly what I say, I will drop it in the ocean," he threatened. "There's a flight leaving for Pago Pago in thirty minutes. Once I've landed and I know I'm not being followed, I'll send instructions on how to get back control of Flight 408."
"I'm not putting you on a plane with passengers, Ian," Steve told him, because he wasn't. He motioned for someone, anyone, hopefully Chin, to check on the flight, to see if they could get contact.
"We already have your money from the robbery. We know about the embassies. There's no play here," Grover told him. Ohhh good one. Yes. Steve endorsed that one. "You just need to stop this and we'll try to make a deal."
"A deal? I've committed acts of treason. There won't be any deals."
Kid also had a point. "It's 300 people. You gotta stop this, Ian," Steve told him.
"No chance," was thrown back in his face and Steve lost it.
He decked Ian before he could stop himself the force of the blow knocking him down to the ground. "Turn it off!" he ordered.
"You think I'm stupid?" Ian asked him. "The computer running the hack is somewhere else. This one just lets me keep an eye on it."
Grover went to pull Steve aside. Probably to ask him to figure out how to turn the thing of without caving to Ian. But Ian had more to say. "You know, we all got that broadcast a few months ago. I hear Rowan Pierce is very pretty. Maybe I'll you should include her in the deal. I'd love to go to Pago Pago with a beautiful woman with an unlimited criminal network at her fingertips."
The next hit Steve was sure shattered Ian's jaw, or at least one of Steve's fingers. He hit him so hard Steve saw spots for Ian. Ian collapsed to the floor laughing as he coughed up blood.
"Ohh… touchy…" he said. Steve opened his mouth to threaten him, to tell him if he even so much as looked at Rowan it wouldn't be Steve he had to worry about, one phone call to Wo would end Ian. Steve wouldn't even have to lift a finger. But he was interrupted yet again.
"Hi! I'm here to end your game of speed chess, boys. You can call this the real check mate," came Rowan's chipper voice from the computer, everyone turned to it and there she was on the screen. She waved at them like it was perfectly normal for her to pop up on Grover's daughter's laptop when it was being used to track the GPS of a plane that Ian had hacked.
"What the hell?" Ian cried, but Steve found himself laughing. Only Rowan would pull a stunt like this.
"Oh… he's hot. Has anyone ever told you that you look like a Jonas Brother?" she asked Ian. And just like that Steve wasn't smiling anymore.
"You're Rowan Pierce?" Ian asked her and Rowan nodded. "You don't look all that special."
Rowan feigned disappointment. "No? How about we try this on for size? School of Computer Sciences, 330 Carver Street, where you got all your parking tickets. Am I special now?" Ian went sheet white as he stared at her. "Yeah thought so. Anyone wanna turn me towards Steve?"
Steve turned the computer to him as he kneeled down in front of it. He looked at her eyes and swallowed down the urge to tell her how happy he was to see her on that computer screen. "What the hell Ro?" He wasn't even going to touch the comment she made about Ian's looks.
"You weren't picking up your phone and I didn't want you to let him go so we did something fancy with the computer to get a hold of you," she said.
"Uh… okay, what's so important that you had to hack a computer to get a hold of me?" he asked.
"Well… we're doing something pretty high tech with the computer next to me and essentially we're… what… 85% finished?" she said turning to the side to confirm with whoever was beside her.
A male voice… and not Toast's voice… said: "95% now."
"Okay, sorry. We're 95% finished jamming the signal."
Steve blinked his eyes. "I'm sorry… you're… what?" he asked.
"I already told you, Miss Pierce," the voice said again. "I am not jamming the signal I'm rewriting the code to shut it down."
"No… that's not possible," Ian growled.
"Who's with you Rowan? That's not Toast," Steve said.
"No. I have Kong Liang. Great hacker. He's the one who programmed my app," she told him.
Kong had been a suspect in a murder a very long time ago. Steve didn't think he'd see him again, but there was his face, poking out the side of the screen. "I coded the app, not programmed," he clarified. "And she kinda gave me no choice to help her with this. She's got one hell of a power of persuasion."
Steve half grinned in pride, yes, yes she did, didn't she? Behind him he heard Chin sending Catherine to 330 Carver St. Everything was coming together.
"Not going to comment on Ian's insinuation that you don't have the skill to best him?" Rowan asked, clearly just being a little shit at that point.
"Kids, they always think their shit is so hot," he said his face disappearing again. "Coding's done, the plane is in the clear."
Rowan turned back to the camera. "Did you hear that?" she asked him. "The plane's safe, don't let him get on any other plane. And definitely don't send him to Pago Pago, okay?"
"Are you sure it's safe? Like, he can't start up the program again?" Steve asked.
Rowan's smile faltered and he sort of felt bad, he knew how much it upset her when he wouldn't believe her visions. "Well, Catherine's on her way, would it make you feel better if she confirmed it?" she asked. Oh… and how had she known that?
"Actually yeah, it would," he told her and that smile fell of her lips entirely.
"Ohh… she didn't like that," Ian said from his spot on the ground. Watching as Rowan stood, so all he saw was that green she had been wearing and her stripe of bared tanned midriff. "Crushing your girlfriend's dreams over there, McGarrett."
"She's not my girlfriend," Steve told him and then sat down on the bench they had taken Ian off of and then waited for Rowan to come back on the screen, but all he got was voices.
"What are you doing here?" Catherine's angry voice came to him.
"I was stopping the program," she said.
Beside the computer, Kong stood up. "Actually, I did all the stopping and coding that she's talking about," he clarified picking up a suit jacket to put back on.
"True. He did all the programming, I just sat there and looked pretty," she said.
"Oh don't sell yourself short. You also got me coffee," Kong answered disappearing from the view of the camera.
"Aww thanks."
"Alright, we're done here. I'm going to go wait by the car or do you need back up?" he asked her.
Rowan told him that she was good and then it was just her and Catherine.
"What did I tell you?" Catherine hissed.
"Look, if this is another one of those stay away conversations I don't need it. I only came because that asshole got Steve shot and I wanted to make sure he went to jail. And your rinky-dink little jamming program takes too long and he would have got away," Rowan snapped. "So save your self-righteous-leave-my-boyfriend-alone bullshit for another day. Okay?"
And then she was gone. Catherine appeared on the screen as she went to the next computer.
"Hey Cath?" he called and she started. She turned to the computer that was next to hers.
"Oh. Uh… what the hell?"
"Rowan. Don't ask," he said. "She said the program is shut down, is that true?"
Catherine disappeared for a brief moment before she returned on screen and said: "Uh… yeah… it is… she got herself her own hacker? Isn't that a little weird even for her?"
"I don't know anymore," he said. "Uh… wanna tell me what lecture she was expecting from you?"
Catherine's face paled and she shook her head. "I'm going to shut this down I'll see you back at the Palace, okay?" and then she was gone.
Steve turned to where Ian was still kneeling, mouth all bloodied, face in a dark scowl. "No one said anything about her using that stupid network to interfere with us. I don't think half of us would have agreed to this if we knew what she'd do with it."
Steve pretended to ignore him but that comment got him thinking… and worried. If Rowan continued helping him would that mean her network would turn against her? Was that why Wo Fat was worried that Yakuza was interested in her, was that why he told her not to help? And what the hell had Catherine said to Rowan and had it affected her relationship with him? There were so many questions but he didn't want to call her because that would make him look weak and he wasn't supposed to care anymore.
He wasn't supposed to care. And if he didn't care he wouldn't abuse his power trying to make her safe.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan returned to the apartment she shared with Alex completely trepid about opening that door. It had been hour since she had come back, and even though she had had a busy day and she wanted to avoid this conversation, she knew what she had to do, had made up her mind and this needed to be done. She couldn't avoid it forever. But as soon as the door opened, he pounced on her.
"God Rowan, I'm so sorry!" he cried.
Rowan clutched her bag. "She's not still here, is she?" she whispered.
"No, god no, she's… I… she's gone," he stuttered. He then looked at her strangely. "She's been gone for hours. You've been gone for hours. Why didn't you answer your phone? I've been calling and texting you since you walked out."
Okay not entirely true but she'd let him have it. Rowan exhaled. "Uh-huh… yeah I know," she said. "I've been busy."
"Doing what?" Alex asked.
"Just stuff," she answered illusively. "Look… this is no big deal. Really. I'm not mad or upset, or anything."
Alex straightened and stared at her. "No, I guess it's not," he said. "But you know… it probably should be mad at me. You should be mad you walked in on your boyfriend with another woman."
Rowan let out a string of dry laughs. "Yeah, I know. I just spent the whole day in a state of shock, first it was because of what I witnessed but that only lasted an hour. I'm oddly chill about this and that's quite shocking too," she said. "Honestly. I uh… I think we've been over for a while."
Alex half smiled at her. "Yeah, you felt that too huh?"
"Let's be honest here, Alex," she said. "I don't think we were each other's first choices."
"That's not true, Rowan, I did like you a lot, at the beginning," Alex admitted. "It's uh… it's just very hard to compete with Steve."
"And I get that, I do," Rowan said. "But I think, I think you wanted me to move in so you could have something to hold over Steve and I wanted to move in to run away. Don't get me wrong, you're a great guy, a bit selfish, but everyone has flaws. And the sex is great, but I think… for the last little while, that's all we've been. Company and sex. And you know, sex, it just isn't enough."
Alex opened his mouth to argue and Rowan just him off. "Okay, it's not enough for me. But seeing as you're becoming a rock star, I guess you're in that fuck all the groupies stage. So being free, and single, and unattached is what you need right now."
Alex looked away from her. His eye hit the ground. "Uh… well… yeah, I guess you're right," he whispered. "Uh… how are we going to work together?"
"Well, I never wanted to be a part of the band. So you don't have to worry about that. I'd love to still do some live gigs with you, but no pressure there," Rowan said. But when Alex's worried eyes met her she realized that wasn't what he was worried about. "And I'll continue to write for you. Not exclusively. But I'll give you first crack at the ones I think will fit your style."
Alex's smile returned to his face and Rowan knew that, when it came down to it that was all Alex really cared about. And to an extent that was all Rowan cared about too. They had a symbiotic work relationship. She needed it as much as he did.
"I… uh… I guess I better get my things," she whispered.
"I'll help you out," Alex said. "Good thing most of your stuff is still in boxes huh?"
Yeah, Rowan really had dallied on the actual unpacking. "You don't have a car though," he said. "Is there somewhere I can drop you off?"
Rowan thought long and hard. Yeah there was somewhere.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Danny was not expecting the doorbell to ring after dinner. He wasn't expecting Rowan to be there, to have Alex unpacking box after box out of his trunk. Rowan was smiling softly, almost apologetically.
"Uh… hey. How was Jersey? I heard your dad bought a convertible? What model? What color?" she asked as she hugged him.
Danny hugged her back, confused. While it was nice to see her and he'd love to answer her questions, he figured there were more pressing topics of conversation they could be discussing at that moment.
"Uh… what's going on here?" he asked.
Rowan looked around at the boxes at her feet. "Oh… uh… I couldn't get a hold of Chin," she said. "Can I uh… can I crash here?"
"Did the shmuck dump you?" Danny growled just as Alex appeared from behind her and dropped off more of the boxes.
Alex straightened. "Do… uh… do any of your friends like me?" he asked.
"They're hard to please," she said to him he scowled and walked away and Rowan turned back to Danny. "To answer your question, the break up was instigated by me, but it's was pretty mutual."
Danny shook his head. "Okay, you can crash here, on one condition," he said. Rowan's eyes narrowed at him but he figured he had her attention. "You tell me if you really are okay with him… you know… kidnapping you last night."
"It was scary. Like really scary. My shrink is not gonna like that story, but I'm pretty okay. Chin was there for me when I woke up. It was nice that he was there," she answered.
Danny nodded he noted that Alex was making his way back with the last of the boxes. As Alex got closer and smiled and cried: "Course you can stay here," and then pulled her in for a hug. Alex moved forward, his hand brushed against Rowan as if he were interested in saying something to her or hugging her good-bye but Danny swatted it away. "Back off, bozo!"
Rowan shook her head against his shoulder. She pushed away from Danny and smiled up to Alex. "Thanks for the drop off," she said as she pulled him in for a hug the shmuck did not deserve. "I'll see you at the studio on Tuesday."
Alex mumbled a good-bye to her and as soon as he was on the way back to his car and Rowan had turned back to him, Danny put his hands on his hips and said: "You're still going to work with him?"
"Yeah… uh… do you think we can talk about this after we're done getting everything inside?" she asked.
"Talk while we move, I wanna know exactly why you decided to end things with him," Danny said. "And if I have to go beat him up, I totally will."
Rowan laughed and Danny tried to smile, but he was totally serious. Grace came running forward jumping up and down so excited that she and Rowan would be getting to have a sleep over.
"I'll tell you on one condition," Rowan said to him and Danny raised a hand to silence her.
"Let me guess… I don't tell Steve?" he finished for her. When she nodded Danny sighed. Now there were more secrets to keep from McGarrett, and he was already struggling with the first one.