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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Alright guys, So we got to the first major change. What do you guys think? Happy? Not happy? Well, in 4 more chapters you're gonna get to the second major change you guys have been asking for. Three more and Steve finally learned the truth, so you know, bonus stuff to look forward to. We are almost there. We are almost to the promise fluffy McRo land. Also, I've written up to chapter 100, I wanted something really special for that chapter (aka Rowan and Steve's first sex scene) but that's going to be coming a chapter later. I did, however, make chapter 100 super cute and fluffy. So you know… other things to look forward to. We also have a consensus, so when we hit 500 reviews I will be doing a 7 day marathon for you guys :D So thanks again for reading this chapter, and I'll see you guys on Tuesday… for real this time.

Chapter 80

Rowan dropped the last of the boxes into the closet of the guest room and then shut the door. That was her half unpacked. This was supposed to be temporary… of course… but that didn't mean she wouldn't be there for a while.

Chin came into the room and looked around. "Well… other than the pillows and the comforter it doesn't look like you did much," he said.

"I've got so many down pillows," she told him. "Seriously, you need one I'll give you one."

Chin laughed at her. He came to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "How are you doing?" he asked. "You feeling okay? How's uh… how's the therapy?"

"I guess I'm doing okay," she answered. "I still get night terrors, but not as bad at the first night here. My therapist says I have trauma to deal with and that until recently I've been repressing the memories. She can't promise that I'll get better, I'll just learn to deal with it in a healthier manner. She thinks that healthier manner is dropping Steve cause he seems to aggravate the whole situation but… I unno… I just… I just can't."

That was a loaded statement so she wasn't surprised when Chin avoided it entirely.

"You gonna be good on your own?" he asked her. Chin had a whole thanksgiving thing going on with the Five-0 family. A family she wasn't a part of anymore and therefore wasn't invited. Well that's not true. They had all invited her, but Catherine and Steve were there and she didn't want to see them. Not together anyway.

"Oh yeah, trust me. I'll be okay," she said. Already the phone in her pocket was buzzing and she found herself smiling despite Chin pressing a kiss to her cheek and bidding her farewell.

"You call me," he said to her. "You call me if you need me and I will come right back."

It was nice of him to care, but she knew she wouldn't. She wanted to weather this out on her own. In all her life she hadn't actually stood on her own two feet. She had her parents, she had her brother, her best friend Sarah so it was only natural that she leant on Steve and the other Five-0's since she had got there.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

"Happy Thanksgiving," she cried into it and was met with unimpressed grumbling.

"Are you alone?" Wo Fat asked. Ah straight down to business.

"Yep no Tacos or taquito's following the Taco's orders here," she said.

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't be left alone for Thanksgiving," he reminded her. They had had a conversation to that effect but she never agreed to anything. "Your therapist said to not be alone. Being along brings… uh… it… back up."

"I'm fine, Wo. How was the prison's thanksgiving?"

"I got slices of cold turkey that I'm sure was stuffed with a sock soaked in chicken broth. The cranberry sauce was out of a can, I could tell by the ridged impressions in it and the assortment of vegetables were dismal. So not a lot to be thankful about this year," he told her.

She wasn't going to have a turkey dinner either. She was going to have pizza, cover her snow cones with vodka and watch all her favourite movies.

"You have me," she whispered to him.

"I'm in a super maximum facility, in a solitary cell, thousands of miles away from you."

"I'm with you in spirit," she said hoping he could hear the smile in her tone.

"I'd rather be there for real," he snapped. She answered that sentiment with: "Same," and then he added: "If one more thing happens to you Ro, if Steven McGarrett causes one more bit of annoyance to you, I will break out of here to deal with him. Whether you want me to or not."

"Oh don't be silly," she said. "If you're going to break out of prison you need a better reason than silly old Steven McGarrett."

"What he's doing to you is not silly. It's the kind of thing I'd do to someone to torment their lives in the hopes they'd kill themselves and save me the bullet," he told her. "I cannot for the life of me wonder why you'd be so alright with his behaviour unless you're either secretly courting it or someone isn't as over their precious Commander as they keep saying."

"Don't start with me tonight, Wo. I'm spending my first thanksgiving alone. You've had years of practice and I haven't, some sympathy would be appreciated and dare I say the appropriate response," she cried.

"Alright, fine. But one day you'll have to talk about your feelings, cause they are warping your relationship with…" "—Wo!" "—Alright fine! Tell me about what you have planned for your day. Please don't tell me it's pizza, alcoholic slushies and Disney movies."

"No," Rowan snapped. She sniffed primly before adding: "It's alcoholic snow cones."

"Ah, how could I be so foolish?"

"What about your day? Anything fun planned in your box?"

"Just working on my escape plan. Nothing too fun."

"Mm, send me a postcard when you're out."

"Of course. It'll be my first purchase," he told her, she could hear the grin in his voice and she wondered if he could hear hers. "I gotta go though. You'll be okay, right? On your own?"

"Course I will… I'm a big girl," she assured him.

"Call me if you need me," he ordered. It seemed to be everyone's order now a days. She appreciated the sentiment but it was starting to get a bit redundant. But still she told him she would to make him feel better. "Alright, well… I miss you…"

"Miss you too…" she answered and then he was gone and she was all alone again. She could do this. She was strong she could…

And then her phone chimed.

Like the pathetically dependant person she was she lurched for it, pulling it out of her pocket so quickly she was sure she ripped the lining of her jeans. It was a text message from Danny. He was willing to take her on an impromptu driving lesson today after the football game finished and before they had to go to dinner at McGarrett's. Rowan typed back her response as quickly as possible. Driving lessons meant she wouldn't be all alone, maybe he'd even bring Grace. She went to her laptop and pulled up her iTunes to organize a new playlist. Driving with Grace always came with its own playlist.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

"So… who won football?" Rowan asked Grace. Grace, who was sitting in the backseat singing along to the song Rowan had playing on the radio turned to Rowan with a smile.

"It was a tie cause Uncle Steve left early and we couldn't finish playing," Grace answered.

"No, Daddy's team won and Uncle Steve was a sore loser and declared a tie because he was leaving," Danny

"Oh, that Uncle Steven, he's such a wild card," Rowan said shooting a big cheesy grin in Danny's direction just to tick him off. Danny shook his head and turned his scowl to the window.

"You should have come with us," Grace said. "You shouldn't have to be alone on Thanksgiving. I'm sure Uncle Steve wouldn't mind."

"I've already told you pumpkin, it's not Uncle Steve's fault, it's mine," Rowan said. "It's better if I stay away."

Danny sighed and rolled his eyes. Yeah, better his ass. The only one benefiting from this arrangement was Catherine, or at least, she was supposed to be. Danny was pretty sure that Steve was even more distracted now than before Rowan was distant and unattainable to him.

They came to a turn in the bend and the Camaro went smoothly instead of drifting like Rowan was used to doing. He had guessed early on that Rowan would drive more carefully if Grace was in the car. Once that theory was confirmed Grace was in the car for every lesson.

"Good job," Danny said to her. "Keep driving like this and you'll ace that driving test next week.

"If Aunt Ro passes her test, are we still going to do sing-along-Saturdays?" Grace asked from the back seat.

"Sing-along-Saturdays?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, cause every Saturday, we go driving together, we sing along to Rowan's songs, get snow cones at the beach and play in the water. Are we going to keep doing that?" she asked.

Danny hadn't realized that it had been an every Saturday thing, but now that he thought about it, it was.

"Well… uh… that depends on Danno," Rowan said and Danny frowned, of course she'd throw that back at him. "I'm down if he's not on a case or has something else going on and if I'm not busy."

Ah that was actually quite considerate of her. To think of his schedule not just hers. "It probably wouldn't be every Saturday like it's been for the last little while either," he added smiling at Rowan and the shooting that same smile over his shoulder to Grace.

"Yes, we should reserve it for once a month and special occasions," Rowan told them with her own proud smile and Danny agreed. He liked that idea.

"We should really have Aunt Ro come to our Thanksgiving dinner. Aunt Catherine won't get mad if it we tell her I invited Aunt Ro," Grace said from the back.

Danny and Rowan exchanged glances neither of them had ever even hinted that Catherine was the reason Rowan was keeping her distance.

"Who told you Aunt Catherine was the problem, Monkey?" Danny asked and had she mentioned that to Steve? Cause if she let that slip Steve would flip.

"I'm not stupid," Grace said. "It's not Uncle Steve's fault, it's not Aunt Ro's, it's not yours and Uncle Chin wouldn't tell Rowan to go either so that leaves Aunt Cath… and Aunt Cath really doesn't like Rowan."

"Wow," Rowan breathed out but Danny ignored her.

"It's very important that you don't tell your Uncle Steve that. He's a bit irrational when it comes to your Aunt Ro," Danny reminded her.

"Like how he was going to arrest her because I TPed his house," Grace asked.

"He was gonna what now?" Rowan cried.

"It's fine. We talked him out of it," Danny assured her. He then turned back to Grace. "Yes honey, just like that."

"I couldn't come even if he invited me," Rowan told her. "I have a gig tonight, but thank you so much for thinking of me Gracie."

Danny couldn't get the grin off his face. Rowan saying she didn't like kids had thrown him for a loop because she was absolutely wonderful with Grace. "You wanna pick the next song?"

"Yeah! I want one of yours Aunt Ro!" she said.

"Oh yeah? Which one?" Rowan said going for her iPod. Danny swatted her hands away.

"Watch the road," he said. "I'll do it."

"I want Cheap Thrills," Grace said. "I like your solos."

"Yeah? Cause I'm still not sure I've got them down, you know?" she said. Danny pulled up the track but no sooner than the song was the instrumental playing did his phone ring. Both girls groaned but Danny ignored them. Steve was calling which mean he either knew about Rowan or there was a case.

Danny turned the music down, took the call and then hung up quickly before Steve could sense that Rowan was with him.

"Kay, I'mma drop you off at your moms, and Aunt Ro off at Chin's and then I'm gonna deal with this."

"Are you gonna be done your case in time for turkey?" Grace asked.

"Of course he will, sweetie," Rowan said and he smiled. Yes. Great, he was glad that came out of her mouth, because Rowan was always right.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Danny had picked Steve up and his eyes had narrowed the second he got in the driver's seat. It was like he could tell that Rowan had just been there, had just been where he was now sitting. He tried to air out the car but he was sure her perfume was still lingering. So to distract him Danny decided to pepper him with questions.

After listening to the turkey debacle, he asked: "So… what are the odds of me actually eating turkey today? Like a ten percent chance?"

"Will you relax, okay?" Steve snapped as he took a turn a little too sharply. Oh yeah, he had noticed. He had been acting really strange lately when it came to Rowan. God forbid Danny or Chin mention her and he kept asking them what they did the night before and then glaring at them as if that would make them tell him something other than the carefully laid lies the two had put into place. "My Aunt Deb is there. She's gonna figure everything out."

Wow, really reassuring. But he wasn't going to say that. He needed Steve riled so he'd forget all about Rowan possibly being in the car before he came to pick up Steve. So he went for a real zinger.

"Oh, your Aunt Deb. Your father's sister. The one who took care of Mary after your mother faked her death?" he asked. Yeah he knew which one but he was going for the dig.

"There's something wrong with you," Steve growled.

"Me?" Danny asked feigning innocence.

"Do you like reminding me of that? Why would you like reminding me of that?" he asked. He genuinely sounded hurt and Danny felt a little bad. Maybe… just maybe… he might have crossed a line.

"It's the truth, Steven," he reminded him. They had reached the pier and Steve was parking the Camaro. Once he was done he turned a dark glare to Danny.

"Yes… yes it's the truth," he snapped. "Aunt Deb who raised Mary by herself because of my mother, you happy?"

"No. It must have been trying," Danny said because he knew Mary and she was a handful.

"You don't know the half of it. She walked away from a record deal when that kid got thrown in her lap," Steve told him. Whooo, just hearing about Rowan and frantic attempts to secure her own record deals, he knew that had to be a big deal. It was a big deal for Rowan and she was just the song writer.

"She was a singer?" Danny asked as they got out of the car.

"You didn't know that?" Steve asked as if he had already told him all about Aunt Deb. Him. The man who told people nothing.

"No, I did not," Danny answered. They weren't at the scene yet, where Catherine was waiting and he really didn't want the topic to turn to why his car smelt like roses if he and Rowan weren't friends so he racked his mind for another topic to go to.

"I got a question for you. Uh… how did Captain Lou Grover end up at our family football game, this morning?" Danny asked.

"I mean, his family's all in Chicago. He had no place to go," Steve answered.

"So… you invited him to our football game?" Danny repeated.

"Yeah, Danny, I did," he answered clearly not getting what the issue was.

"Look I understand you guys had a bonding moment while I was gone, but you are aware that's the guy that ratted you out to the Governor, right?" Danny reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, Danny I get it," Steve said. "But it's Thanksgiving, I'm being the bigger guy here."

"I'm just saying, Rowan had no one and we didn't invite her. I figured you care more that she was sitting alone at…" Danny trailed off, fuck him and his big fucking mouth. Why hadn't he kept his goddamn mouth shut? Maybe Steve wouldn't catch that.

"Alone where? She's at Alex's… isn't she? Where is she if she isn't at Alex's?" Steve asked, well so much for him not catching onto that. His eyes bored into Danny, like he knew, like he already knew what was going on. But he couldn't know. He couldn't know that Rowan and Alex broke up and that in the absence of an actual place to stay she had moved into Chin's spare bedroom.

"Hey Catherine!" Danny called rushing forward to avoid Steve's questions. "What do we got here?"

"All right, here's what we know. So a four-man crew was out trawling for some skipjack when they hooked this," she said gesturing to the item that had drawn them down here.

They were staring at a large black oil drum. Rowan had mentioned having dreams about those. Steve was already fishing for his gloves.

"Forty-five gallon barrel. That's not your usual bycatch," he said. Oh like he was a fucking fisherman. Steven McGarrett and his need to show off.

"Let me guess there's a body in there?" Danny asked. "It's not another one of Rowan's is it?"

Catherine blinked her eyes. "Uh… excuse me? Rowan has bodies?"

"Naw, that one was blue, this is black," Steve said absently looking over the outside, anything to avoid looking in.

"She was dreaming about a body in a black oil drum after Halloween," Danny reminded him. "Maybe that's what this is?"

Steven straightened and turned to glare at him. "Well… when you were having that heart to heart with her in the interrogation room after Halloween, did she happen to mention if more than one person attacked her?" Steve shot back.

"I'm sorry. Someone attacked her? When?" Catherine asked.

"No, she did not Steven. She only mentioned the one," Danny answered primly. "But if her DNA is under this guy's nails, I vote we start with Wo Fat who apparently does her killing for her instead of traumatizing the girl and arresting her again." When Steve scoffed at him Danny added: "It is Thanksgiving. Call me crazy but the girl deserves at least one day's holiday from your insanity."

"A lot of information hit me there, guys, and neither of you are answering my questions," Catherine said.

"Not… not now," Steve said. He turned on Danny. "I am not that bad. I'm not. She and I… we've been great since Waimanalo."

"That was less than seven days ago, you putz. Of course, you've been great you haven't fucking seen the girl or had a reason to arrest her or handcuff her to a car," Danny cried.

"She got handcuffed to a car?" Catherine asked again.

"You see… you see how do you know that?" Steve asked.

"What do you mean how do I know that? I work with you. We have the same work place. You drive my goddamn car. I think I would have noticed if Rowan was in the back of it and we were taking her back to the palace," Danny snapped.

"Oh my god! Will you just admit it?" "—Admit what?" "That you're friends with her. Admit that you and Chin went behind my back and stayed friends with her." "How could we be friends? Why would you even think…" "—Because I saw you together. We saw you together. Me and Catherine. We… We saw all of you guys together. The day after Halloween."

Danny fell quiet. "You've known that long and you didn't say anything?" he asked. Steve's nostrils flared, oh he did not like how Danny had turned the tables on him. "What you wanted to play a game? See how long they can keep it up?"

"No! I wanted you to tell me the truth!" Steve thundered. "I wanted you to want to tell me the truth. But you and Chin were about to take this to your fucking graves!"

"Of course we were, you're fucking nuts and it would only get worse when you found out why she cut us all out…" Danny trailed off and shut his mouth. Steve blinked his eyes.

"Wait… reason… there's a reason… she told you why she cut us all out? There was like a legitimate reason? One that would make me mad? Why? What was is it?" Steve asked.

Danny's mouth opened and closed, his eyes scanned the horizon like they did when he was flustered and didn't want to answer. Steve waited but nothing came out of him.

"Danny!" he urged, he would have been stupid to not notice how Danny's eyes flickered to Catherine. But he couldn't help himself, she was right there, sheet white, eyes wide. No one wanted Steve to find out what had happened that led her to that night in the bar, but Catherine had a personal reason to make sure Steve never found out

"Look. I promised alright?" Danny said. "She was very clear about not telling you what happened because… god… just because alright?"

Steve glared at him. "You're fucking ridiculous. The two of you! All of you!" he shouted. "I'm riding back with Cath."

As soon as he was gone Catherine shot him a glare and hissed a: "Great going," to him before chasing after Steve. Hey, at least he didn't find out Rowan had been in the car before him.