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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Hey guys! So we're back on the two post a week schedule for the next little bit until we hit 500 reviews. This chapter is a bit longer, sitting at 13 pages, but I have a lot that happens in this chapter, some of it is super cute, some of it is not. HOWEVER, we're only 2 chapters away from Steve finding out and 3 chapters away from Catherine being gone. In 8 chapters we're going to get to them trying to get their shit together. I've also gotten their first sex scene in the story (it's in chapter 101… don't worry they're doing very cute things way before that.) So enjoy this update, tell me if you enjoyed it, and I'll see you on Friday!
Chapter 81
Steve didn't need this today, okay? He didn't. He didn't need a turkey crisis. He didn't need his best friend to literally go see Rowan and then come pick him up and then act like it was perfectly fine and nothing had happened. He didn't need Danny to not even try to pretend like he hadn't been going behind Steve's back, being friends with Rowan and withholding information purposely because he thought Steve couldn't be rational about it. He didn't need a threat on the President who was coming to visit Hawaii. He didn't need that stiffness that was now between he and Danny as they tried to do their job.
And he certainly didn't need his Aunt Deb getting arrested and needing him to go bail her out.
Duke led him to the cells and unlocked the door for him. "Hi!" he called to his aunt who stood up and half laughed at him when she noticed him behind Duke.
"Hi!" she said back. She was putting on a brave face but he could tell his Aunt was rattled.
"Thanks," he said "Can you give me a second?"
"Just a second," Duke agreed and then left them there.
Steve, with his hands on his hips stared down at his Aunt Deb. "You okay?" he asked.
She put her own hands on her hips and said: "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good," he whispered and then carefully went about putting the next sentence together. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?"
He wanted to know, but he also didn't want to know. He was really worried about knowing.
"Well… uh… well I needed some grass," she said and Steve was sent reeling. She needed what?! "And uh… well... how was I supposed to know the guy was a narc?"
"What?" Steve cried.
"I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for those fascists at the dispensary," she continued. But Steve was still stuck on the whole Aunt-Deb-Buying-Weed thing. "They wouldn't take my card."
"The dispensary? WHAT?!" he thundered.
"Yeah, and the guy behind the counter told me where I could find some, and then I run into this narc…"
Steve put his hands up, he had gotten way too much info there and his brain still wasn't processing past Aunt Deb plus weed. "Okay, stop, please. For a minute," he said to her and she fell quiet and just stared at him like she didn't understand why he was confused. "Can we go back?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you have a medical marijuana card?" he asked her. It was the most important question.
And she answered that question so weirdly.
She drew herself up all regal like she was the queen and even added a little bit of British head waggle when she said "I have cataracts."
Well a bloody fucking hell to him too. "You have cataracts?" he echoed.
"Yes," confirmed the regal Aunt Deb. Wow, she was really insulting his intelligence here. "Cataracts, that's what happens when you get old."
And then she stared at him. The regal Aunt Deb deflated and fear and apprehension rested on her face. "Are you telling me the truth?" he asked her. She wasn't like Danny, or Rowan… or his mother. His Aunt Deb wouldn't lie to her favourite nephew.
"Look, half the people my age get them," she said. Okay, she would lie to her favourite nephew. Of course, it was true, except she was lying about having them.
Steve scoffed at her. "Deborah," he chided.
"Steven," she chided right back.
"I'm a cop. I read people for a living," he reminded her. "You're not tell me everything."
And then he folded his arms over his chest and waited. Aunt Deb sighed, she looked at him surreptitiously before sitting back down on the bend.
"Oh, this isn't how I wanted to do this," she sighed to herself, but it was loud enough for Steve to hear so he took a step forward and hesitantly asked: "Do what?" because this wasn't sounding good.
She cleared her throat a few times before she finally turned to him, she pivoted her body but her eyes avoided his. Steve's heart plummeted to his stomach. No, this was getting worse by the second. "Okay, uh, a couple of months ago I wasn't feeling so good, tired all of the time, nauseous, headaches. So I went to the doctor and they ran a whole bunch of tests, and uh… turns out I have a tumor in my brain."
Steve leant against the bars of the cell. His brain didn't seem to comprehend that. "You… you have cancer?" His Aunt Deb just nodded and his heart fell out of his chest and to the floor. "How bad is it?"
Please god, don't let it be that bad.
"It's bad," she admitted. Fuck.
Steve blinked his eyes, his knees were going weak. He carefully took a seat beside her as she just stared at him, waiting for her confession to be absorbed.
"Okay… uh… alright. What's the plan? What's the course of treatment?" he asked. They got beat this. McGarrett's were fighters. His Aunt Deb was a plucky little thing. She could beat this. He'd be there every step of the way. He'd move her to Hawaii, make sure she got the best treatment…
"Well, there is none," she said. What now? How could there be no treatment? "There is none, it's… uh… it's too far along."
No, Steve wasn't having that. This was the only living relative, other than Mary, he had left. He wasn't going to lose her too. "No, but, you know, chemo, radiation…"
"Well… we talked about that, but I decided against it," she said.
Whoa. Hold up now.
"Why?!"
Steve just couldn't understand this. Why the hell would she just want to give up?
"Because they said it wouldn't work, so I…" she trailed off and Steve picked it up. "So you just… that's it? You just gave up? Is that what you're gonna do? You can't do that. Okay? No, you can't… You gotta fight this… you gotta…"
And then it was Aunt Deb's turn to cut him off. "Listen to me," she urged, her hands coming to his. Steve fell quiet. "I don't wanna spend whatever time I have left in some hospital, getting pumped full of poison and feeling crappy all the time, okay? That's not how I wanna do this. This is what I've decided."
Damn that McGarrett stubborn streak. Steve rested his elbows on his thighs and hung his head. He tried to breathe but he couldn't. It hurt. It burned. His chest was on fire trying to contain it all in. Aunt Deb put a hand to his back and rubbed him gently but it wasn't her fingers he wanted to feel. He didn't even know if he could go see the person he wanted comforting him right at that moment.
He knew he wasn't going to be able to talk her out of this, not without time to prepare a rebuttal, all he could say at that moment was: "Okay."
They were silent for a few seconds before Steve turned to her and asked: "That's why you're here isn't it? You wanted to come and say goodbye to us."
She nodded and his heart sank even further. He sighed and tried to blink back those tears. This wasn't what he wanted Duke and the other HPD officers to see.
"Listen… uh… you can't say anything to your sister," she told him.
Steve lifted his head up and tried to sniff away any sign of emotion. "Wait, what?" he cried. "You can't do that to me, Deb. That's not fair. You can't keep this from her"
"No, no, I'm gonna tell her. I'm just waiting for the right moment, okay?" she urged. Steve looked at her and he believe her. At least she didn't lie to him.
"Look, you better get back to work," she told him. "I've still gotta get booked."
"You're not getting booked," Steve groaned, like he was going to let that happen.
"I am getting booked," she repeated. "I don't want any special treatment, okay? I'm serious."
Steve sighed. "Fine, fine. You're getting booked," he groaned which caused his Aunt to grin. "I'll send someone to pick you up when you're through."
Deb thought about it a moment before saying: "Make sure he's good-looking, okay?"
Steve had to laugh at that one. He already had someone in mind, the most attractive cop in his unit. He let his Aunt kiss him on the cheek, and tell him that she loved him and then he was leaving her in the cell to get booked and texting Cath to come pick up his Aunt when she was done.
But he couldn't shake the feeling and his body was craving a hit of his favourite drug in human form. He pulled up Danny's contact and waited for him to answer.
"Williams," he said in lieu of a proper greeting.
"Hey you got a second for me?"
"For you, I got a whole minute," Danny said.
"I'm not on speaker am I?" Steve asked. And when Danny said no he went into the favour he wanted to ask. "Hey… uh… look can you take me to see Ro?"
Danny was quiet a second before he sighed and said: "Look man I'm sorry… but I'm not going to…"
"No, Danny, this is about something a little more serious than your betrayal. I just… I just need to talk to her okay? Please?" he asked. His voice cracked, and it must have been betraying a little bit more emotion than he was trying to because Danny relented.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Danny had sent a text message. Emergency. Call me. And while she was reading that message he called an Rowan knew it had to be bad. It could have been Grace, it could have been that damn building coming down on him… she didn't once think it was Steve.
She had left the band practice, phone shaking her hand. She answered already worried. But then it was Danny on the phone talking about Steve. Something was wrong with him. He had been shaking, demanding to see her. Danny was worried that Steve was about to show him some sort of emotion, so he wanted to know if it was okay to bring him round to… uh… where ever she was.
So, she had said yes. And then hung up the phone and wondered why she did so. Steve didn't deserve her help. Steve hadn't even apologized for kidnapping her. But he was already on his way so there was nothing she could do about it, except not fall for his charms when he got there. That's right. She wasn't going to help him unless he apologized first. That seemed only fair, didn't it?
The Camaro pulled up to the garage and Rowan held her breath. But when they got out of the car that breath she had sucked in left her.
Fuck her, he was wearing blue. Fuck. She could never resist him in blue. That button-down shirt looked about ready to burst it was so tight across his chest, straining with every ragged breath he was taking. That was how she realized that something was very, very wrong.
She was faster after that and once she finally got to his side she looked him up and down. He was quaking. Her brave Steven McGarrett looked about ready to break down right in front of her. She immediately forgot to demand an apology. This situation was much worse than she thought was. She hesitantly put a hand to his arm, and snippets of words came to her. The most important being: inoperable and brain.
"Who's dying, Steve?" she asked. She didn't recognize the voice, or the face that came to her. The flash wasn't as strong as her others. They were getting increasingly less potent and harder for her to hold on to. Things were blurring, both in the future and in her past, she was having a hard time remembering her life before this and an even harder time remembering what was going to happen next once the flashes faded away.
Steve didn't answer her but that strength he had in him, that thing that made him impervious, shattered in front of her eyes. He was a boy again. Lost and upset. Crying, the holding it in shook him so hard she was worried he might come apart. Rowan went to him, wrapped him up in her arms and held him tight, held him together.
"It's okay," she soothed, her hand caressing his back the way he liked. She shot a glance to Danny and saw that he was just as shocked as Rowan was by this turn of event. Still they say nothing about to another. "You let it out. It's okay."
She kept on soothing him, trying to ignore the way his fingers dug into her back, and how tight his grip was on her. She let him hold her, she let him cry until he was empty and only when the hiccups subsided, his breathing levelled did she try to pry him away.
"A few more minutes," he whispered into her hair. "Just… just a few…"
Rowan let him stay there, his fingers flexing over her back, his breath hot against her neck. Until finally he let her go, wiping the tears away.
"Uh… I uh… I need your help. Both of your help," he said through his hiccups. "It's… uh… about my aunt."
"Mmm, brain tumour," she said.
Danny sighed. "Wow, uh… babe…" he said clearly at a loss for words. "I'm so sorry."
Steve nodded but it was evident that the sentiment meant absolutely nothing to him at that moment. He didn't want condolences he wanted a plan. "It's inoperable, but she's refusing any other kind of treatment," he told them. "And I don't… I don't know how to change her mind. I thought that… that maybe you could tell me…"
A vision he wanted a vision from her. Rowan frowned at him. Didn't he see that he couldn't change his aunt's mind? "Uh... I mean… I haven't been getting anything too clear lately," she admitted. "Uhm… but I know she's going to die."
Steve winced. "But what… isn't there something I can do? Maybe you could tell her that you see a different future…"
"I'm not a fortune teller, Steve," she reminded him.
"Yeah, but you've changed so much. You saved Chin, you saved Billy, you saved Catherine, why can't… why can't you save my Aunt Deb?" he asked, his voice cracking and the tears coming back in his eyes. Gone was her Steven McGarrett, looking at her now, pleading with her with those big blue eyes was that lost little boy under that hardened exterior who had lost his mom too young, his home and his family all with one car bomb.
Rowan's heart went out to him, she felt like she may just cry herself. She swallowed down the raw emotion in her throat and smiled sadly at him. "That's a lot to put on one person, Steve. I can't… I can't save everyone and I can't change everything, no matter how much I want to. If it were up to me I'd do whatever I thought would work to save your Aunt Deb but I think it just might be her time."
Steve looked away from her again and this time Danny stepped up. "This is your aunt's choice Steve, you have to remember and respect that."
And just like that the armour went right back up, that vulnerable little boy disappeared and the hardened tough guy Mr. McGarrett was back
"Yes, it's her choice, but she's not the only one that's going to be affected by this," Steve cried. "I mean Mary… Mary's gonna be destroyed if we lose her."
But it wasn't just going to be Mary. Steve was gonna be destroyed too. "First mom pulls her famous disappearing act again and now this?" Steve said. Ah there it was. See it wasn't all about Aunt Deb, his mother had helped with this.
Rowan hung her head. "I'm sorry, Steve. Maybe… maybe if I had just shut up, she would have… I unno maybe she would have come back," she whispered.
Steve turned to her confusion on his face. "Sorry? You're the only one who tried to make her stay. You. You who had the biggest reason to want her gone. You tried to blackmail Doris McGarrett into staying. There aren't a lot of people who are ballsy enough to do that," Steve said with a laugh. "No. You were right, Doris was gone the second I demanded she tell me the truth. It wasn't your fault. None of this is your fault."
It was nice of him to say it but she didn't believe it. Steve looked back to the two of them. "So… well… what do I do? How do I get her to change her mind?"
There it was, that question again. Rowan didn't know what to say, but luckily Danny did. "I don't think… uh… I don't think you… uh… yeah… I don't think you do try to change her mind," he said. It took a few attempts but Danny got the unpopular opinion out there.
Steve just glared at hem so Danny continued. "I know… I mean… look, if this is your last Thanksgiving together, you wanna spend it arguing?" he asked.
Steve's answer of: "No," was immediate. So at least they were getting somewhere.
"No," Danny echoed in agreement. "You wanna try to make memories, some good memories, something that's gonna bright you through whatever's coming. That's my opinion."
And for once his opinion had been asked for. Rowan watched her boys. Both leaning against the Camaro shoulder to shoulder. Steve was going to be alright. He had Danny. He had Five-0. She wouldn't have to worry about him.
"I think Danny's right," she said. "Don't waste whatever time you have left with arguing. Spend it being happy, spend whatever time is left together. No regrets. Nothing missed."
Steve carefully looked at her. "You're not alone, are you?" he asked. "For Thanksgiving I mean? Cause I'm… I'm having…"
Rowan cut him off before he could finish. "No, no," she said quickly, hooking her thumb in the direction of the garage where the boys were most likely watching. "We gotta gig tonight. To make up for… well… to make up for things. I'll be too busy with that to be alone."
Steve nodded. Rowan knew, if he had asked her to go to that party she would have been too weak to say no. Steve always made her weak. He wasn't hers, she had to remember, he wasn't hers and he never would be.
"You okay now?" she asked.
Steve nodded. "Okay. Well… happy Thanksgiving boys," she said softly. "I'll see you later."
She walked away trying her hardest not to frown. Not to wonder if Steve was still watching and trying her very hardest not to run back to him, throw herself at him and beg him to choose her over Catherine.
She shook her head clear of her fantasies. Steven McGarrett was dangerous. Steven McGarrett made her weak.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
When dinner was a bust Steve had to take out his contingency plan. It wasn't a complete bust. Yes they had no turkey but he, Danny, Grover and Chin had all met the president today to be awarded for their actions earlier that day. They had saved an innocent daughter who witnessed a crime from getting killed and now he got to spend time with his family.
Mary had been told the news and she had taken it exactly the way Steve thought she would. She had joked that Steve must have had some sort of pep talk with Danny that had fully cheered him up, which was when he admitted that it was Rowan who had helped him. Then she joked that Steve had better set up a meet for Mary and Rowan so she could be cheered up too.
Of course, there was still the problem of dinner. Luckily for them he had made an emergency standing reservation at a very special place. The La Mariana Tiki Bar.
Nicky "The Kid" Demarco was on the mic singing away and as they took his seat he finished his song and accepted his praise from the audience.
"Aw you guys are a great audience," he said. He smiled at Steve who gave him the nod to go ahead and Nicky's smile widened. "And because you're a great audience, I got a special surprise for you."
Chin leant across the table to Steve and asked very quietly: "Is he gonna tell that Sinatra story again?"
Steve smiled that secretive smile of his. "No, I don't think so," he told Chin, assuaging any fears he might have had that the Sinatra story would reel it's ugly, long-winded head again.
"Many, many years ago, my good friend John McGarrett used to brag about his sister singing in these legendary nightclubs in Los Angeles," Nicky told the crowd. Deb's back went ram rod straight and her surprised eyes found Steve who could only smile back at her. "Like the Trocadero, Ciro's and the Cocoanut Grove, and the beat goes on and on. Well, I never got to hear her. But as fate has it, right here tonight in this club, we have Deb McGarrett."
Ohhh she was wincing now. Still Steve couldn't stop smiling. She scowled at him and he merely shrugged and tried not to laugh. Nicky walked up to their table and offered Deb a hand. "Deb, would you please come up and sing a song for this marvelous audience?" he asked her.
The spotlight swung to them and while Steve could see she wanted to say no, she relented especially when everyone started clapping and cheering.
Before she left the table, she snapped: "I'm going to kill you," to him and then walked up and took a seat in front of the mic. Danny smiled at him. He knew what he was doing, that he had planned this. Make some memories, Danny and Rowan had told him, and that's what he was going to do.
"Oh boy," she whispered and then broke out into a nervous chuckle. "Well, I certainly didn't expect this. Uh… I mean, I haven't sung in, well, about a hundred years, and, well, these old pipes are pretty rusty. But, uh, since it's a special occasion, oh, what the hell."
That earned her a chuckle, and Steve draped his arm across the back of Mary's chair, while beside him Catherine dropped her hand to his thigh. It was a show of comfort he didn't need or want at that moment, not with a baby a seat away from him, but he was trying his damnedest to be better so he let her keep it there
"I'd like to dedicate this song to my family," Aunt Deb announced to the restaurant. "My little ohana, Steve, Mary and baby Joanie. I love you all so very much. Here it goes. Bear with me."
And then she started to sing. It was a little shaky at the beginning but once she really got into it, oh boy did she light up the stage. He was watching her, enjoying this, enjoying every moment until that feeling draped over him. This sense of calm he hadn't felt since that afternoon when a certain someone had hugged the sadness right out of his tear-soaked body.
Steve froze, he saw her there at the side of the stage, arms crossed smiling softly at Aunt Deb as she sang. Rowan's gig was here? Damn he hadn't known that. He should have asked. The world around him froze, it blurred around the edges, everything was a soft glow around her, like a halo. And she wasn't even looking at him.
She had really come through for him today. She didn't have to comfort him. She didn't have to agree. But she did. She did even though he didn't deserve it. She did even though he had done terrible things to her. He had literally kidnapped her a few days ago, she had every right to turn him down but hadn't.
Aunt Deb finished her song and that was when Steve started to notice that a younger crowd was filing in. Younger musicians were replacing the ones on the stage. Nicky came back up.
"I see our younger audience has already begun to show up," he said. "Just give the band a couple of minutes and we'll get the show on the road!"
A smattering of cheers rose up, but Steve's eyes were still on Rowan. Her had was done up wild, giving it more volume then he was used to. Her eyes were framed with black liner making them twice as big and bright. Her lips were a bright red and she was wearing dark denim high waisted shorts with black fishnets and pointed black ankle boots with silver accents on the wedged heels. Her black shirt was a simple tee-shirt she had tied up to bare her mid-drift that read "Alex and the Doctors" and she was wearing a leather jacket a size too big for her and that he was pretty sure was Chin's.
Beside him Catherine sunk half an inch in her seat and sighed: "Oh you've got to be kidding me."
"I didn't know, okay?" Steve hissed to her. "I didn't know."
Luckily things didn't devolve, Danny quickly jumped to the rescue. "Yo, is she wearing your jacket?" he asked Chin.
Chin peered at her for a bit before saying: "Yeah… I think she is. I didn't know we were sharing closets."
The table giggled but the real laugh came after Danny's comment of: "I don't think anything in her closet would look good on you.
"Hey guys!" Rowan said into the mic. "We've got Alex warming up his vocals for you. Would you guys mind if I warmed up this amazing audience with one of my songs?"
Cheers went up from the gathering crowd, but none as loud as Grace who was grinning wildly at her and clapping so hard her hands must have hurt.
"Grace… uh… Grace really likes Rowan's music," Danny told them, clearly trying to not be embarrassed by Grace's sudden wild cheering.
Grace nodded. "She's the best!" She waved wildly at Rowan who smiled at her and sent her a small wave and blew a kiss in her direction before turning back to the microphone in front of her.
"Does anyone have any song recommendations?" Rowan asked the crowd and she pulled it free from the stand.
Titles began to rise into the air and Steve was surprised. He was unaware that anyone knew any of Rowan's songs, he was unaware that anyone would even know who Rowan was. But there they were, songs being thrown out at her: Hallelujah, Dancing with Tears in my eyes, Wildest Dream. He didn't know any of these but these people, clearly Alex and Rowan's fans, did.
Grace jumped onto her chair despite Danny's protests and screamed: "Cheap Thrills!" as loud as she could. And then she turned the table and had them start the chant. It started at their table but it swelled through the bar until everyone was chanting for the song and Rowan was laughing and shaking her head.
"Alright, Cheap Thrills it is," she said.
The music started to play and Steve watched her. Watched the music ebb into her body making it sway to the beat. He hadn't heard this song before but he knew, just by watching her that whatever was going to happen was going to be amazing.
Come on, come on, turn the radio on. It's Friday night and I won't be long. Gotta do my hair, put my make up on. It's Friday night and I won't be long, 'til I hit the dance floor, hit the dance floor. I got all I need. No I ain't got cash, I ain't got cash, but I got you baby
Steve tore his eyes away from Rowan to scan the crowd. To watch people swaying in their seats, to watch Grace singing along loudly and proudly to a song she knew every word to, to watch Danny mouth along too because he too knew the words. He watched Alex at the side lines seemingly uninterested in Rowan's performance and more interested in the tequila and groupie he found at the bar. And the table of well-dressed older men watching Rowan with rapt interested.
It's a second chance, she had said that afternoon. That's what this was. A second gig to make up for the one she missed out on. The execs she was supposed to meet were there, at that table, he would bet his badge on it. And he had crashed it.
When his eyes turned back to the stage he swore Rowan was staring right at him. Maybe it was fanciful to assume that, but he couldn't help it. Their eyes locked, electricity crackled in the air around him and Steve couldn't look away.
Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight, Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight, No, I don't need no money, as long as I can feel the beat. I don't need no money, as long as you keep dancing with me.
She did a call and answer, the audience knowing just when to shout: "I love cheap thrills" and every time she came back to that line: as long as you keep dancing with me, her eyes would find Steve. It didn't matter where she was on stage and what she was doing. Her eyes found him and he knew that if the song was written for anyone, that one line alone was for him.
Her solos were filled with passion, coming straight from her heart and when the song was over, she stood there basking in the applause breathless and grinning this Cheshire grin he had never seen on her face before. This was what Rowan was good at. Singing. Performing. He didn't understand why she wasn't famous, why it was Alex and the Doctors and not Rowan and the Doctors, or better yet, just Rowan.
Rowan thanked the audience, hopped off the stage. There was a brief lull of silence but it didn't last long. The second Alex was on stage, in his grey skinny jeans and loose tank top showing off the crests of his abs it was cut so low on the sides, the screaming started up again.
He opened with what Steve knew was a crowd pleaser. Saturday Night, which was the most popular song Rowan had written for their band. Steve's eyes were on Rowan though, following her through the crowd to where those nicely dressed execs were waiting to shake her hand and look her over like she was a piece of meat.
Aunt Deb leant in across Mary and put a hand to his arm to get his attention. "Steven, your girlfriend is staring," she hissed.
Steve jerked right back around. He hadn't quite realized he had turned almost his whole body to look at a table behind him. He smiled sheepishly at Catherine who was glaring at him.
"I didn't know," he repeated. "I swear. I didn't know."
He was saved from any further lecture by the appearance of a waiter and everyone simultaneously remembered they had menus at the same time. They looked at their choices, almost everyone settling for the turkey dinner option and Steve exercised all the will power he had left to keep himself from turning around and he did so well until the food came. He turned around, he told himself to look at Joanie, but his eyes found Rowan again and the meeting she was having with those suited men.
No one at that table looked happy. He couldn't fathom why, Alex had screaming fans, the song she had written was catchy and she sang it wonderfully. The only thing he could think they were mad about was her missing that first gig… but it wasn't her fault.
Catherine went to the washroom and she wasn't gone two seconds before Aunt Deb leant across the table and said: "Don't just stare at her. Go talk to her."
Steve blinked his eyes. "No… Aunt Deb…" he started. "She's not… she wouldn't want me over there."
"Oh, you know her?" she asked.
"It's complicated," Steve muttered, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.
"If you want to talk to her honey, and it looks like you really want to, you should," she said. "Take it from me, waiting is not worth it."
Steve looked around at the table, he didn't think he was going to do it, or going to listen to her until Chin added: "You could apologize for Japan."
He could do more than that. He did owe her for helping him when she didn't have to, when she had no reason to even be half as nice as she was. So he got up. He carefully made his way to the table, gathered up all his courage before it could desert him and then cleared his throat.
"Hello," he said to all of them and Rowan turned to him eyes wide in terror.
"Oh God. Please don't," she hissed.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Steve foraged on, keeping his eyes off of Rowan. "I'm Commander Steven McGarrett of Five-0, and uh… I just wanted to make sure that you're not upset about that meeting she missed a few nights ago. I pulled her onto one of my ops, as a…. uh… as a consultant and I kept her longer than I was supposed to. I didn't realize she had an important gig… I mean she told me but I didn't realize how important it was… I just wanted to be sure that you knew that she is reliable, and she is responsible, and she wouldn't have missed that gig for the world if I hadn't strong armed her into helping me."
The men around the table thanked him for his testimony but his eyes were on Rowan who was staring up at him. For the first time since he has saved her from Wo Fat she was staring at him like he was the hero again.
She half smiled at him. "Thank you, Steven," she whispered to him and he nodded.
"Well thank you for your time," he said to the table. "And uh… lock her down… she's a real keeper."
He forced himself to leave her there. To let her finish her meeting and to get back to the table before Catherine got back from the washroom. But he felt lighter, happier and like he had used his power with Five-0 for good where Rowan was concerned. You know, for once.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve had been staring even before that girl was on the stage. Deb had noticed him staring at her even while Deb was singing. He had been watching her, but as soon as he saw the girl at the side of stage he couldn't take his eyes off her. Oh he tried, he would make himself look back at Deb, but somehow his eyes kept turning back to the rock-and-roll-red-head.
And he was staring at her like she was a tall glass of water out in the middle of the Sahara. When she got up on stage it was even worse. It took one look on Catherine's face for her to realize that this was a common occurrence.
But it wasn't until Steve confirmed that he knew the red-head, until he gave her the impression that he not only knew her but didn't get along with her, that she realized that he did this with her quite frequently.
As his aunt, Deb immediately wanted to intervene. She just didn't know how. Catherine was a lovely young lady who seemed extremely interested and invested in Steve. Steve had seemed interested and invested as well but that was before she saw him looking at the red-head the way he did.
Part way through dinner, she had a fit of nausea and excused herself. Mary had realized almost immediately that she wasn't feeling well and followed her out of the front lobby where she had retreated to get a breath of fresh air.
They were there for only a few minutes, Mary arguing that if Deb felt sick they should go home, and Deb flat out telling her that they weren't cutting this family dinner short over her, when two people in their own argument entered the lobby. Instinctively Deb and Mary pressed into a shadowed corner behind a decorative tree to eavesdrop.
"Why are you here Rowan?" Catherine snapped. "Why can't we go anywhere without tripping over you?"
The red-head, Rowan, turned on Catherine who had been following her. "I'm here for my gig. And it was booked WEEKS ago. So you guys are crashing my gig!" she cried. "And how was Steve supposed to know, huh? He and I don't talk! Thanks to someone!"
That someone must have been Catherine. "Oh yes, you don't talk to him," Catherine echoed sarcastically. "You are constantly with him. You're everywhere, involved in every case, showing me up at every turn with your stupid visions!"
"They're not stupid. They save lives," Rowan cried. "They saved your life."
"You can't hold that over me for forever," Catherine snapped. "You're the one who agreed that following Steve and his cases was a problem. You're the one who was supposed to leave his life and live your own. But you weren't out of his life… ever. You couldn't even leave Danny and Chin alone, and you couldn't keep your mouth shut to them either. Bet you couldn't wait to blame me!"
"Danny forced me to tell him. He told Chin, not me. So, talk to Danny about blabbing, because that wasn't my fault," Rowan snapped. "Actually, you're right. It is yours. You got yourself into this. Not me."
"You need to leave him alone. Do you understand? I'm not playing with you anymore. You need to go away or things are going to get more than uncomfortable for you," Catherine warned.
"Did you just threaten me?" she hissed. "Really? You know. I could tell Steve what you did. I can tell him you're why I'm not talking to him anymore."
"Oh yes the only thing you can threaten me with. What are you going to do if I tell him?" Catherine shot back. She was bluffing, Deb was certain she was bluffing.
Rowan crossed her arms over her chest and very smugly said: "Go ahead."
Catherine stared at her and Rowan's smile turned into something a little more sinister. "Go on then, Catherine. Go, go tell him. Tell him what happened," she growled.
"Tell me what?" Steve asked appearing behind Catherine. Both women jumped, both their eyes turned to him, clearly neither of them had seen him come up. "What happened?"
Rowan froze, her eyes on Steven. Catherine too had frozen, staring at him. His eyes narrowed at the two of them. "You're not arguing again, are you?" he asked.
"You have to admit it, Steven, this was very convenient," Catherine sighed and Steve sighed with her, his hands deep in his pockets and his eyes on the ground.
"And I was explaining that I was here first," she told him. "That's all."
Steve sighed at her too, and then put a hand to Catherine's lower back. "I know I promised, Cath, but don't take it out on her. I didn't know she had a gig here tonight and she didn't know about me showing up either. But if you're going to take it out on someone, take it out on me."
"That's not what we're doing…" Catherine started as Rowan said the same thing. "That's not… that's not… we're…"
Rowan came to a standstill her eyes darted between Catherine and Steve, while Steve just stared at her with his heart in his eyes. Damn that boy had it bad for this red-headed vixen, and judging by the position she was in she was about to break her poor nephew's heart.
"I'm just causing trouble again," Rowan told him.
Steve's eyes narrowed. That's right, her Steven was a cop, he knew when someone was lying, he'd spot that girl's bullshit from a mile away.
"About what, Ro?" he asked.
Rowan paused. "What?"
"You said you were causing trouble," he repeated for her. "What about?"
Rowan was floundering now. "Does it matter now?" she asked. "Do you always have to interrogate me? Haven't you done enough Steve?"
Steve lowered his eyes. "I said I was sorry Rowan."
Oh god what had he done?
"Yes well, drugging and kidnapping me will need a little more than a slight apology to make up for that," she answered. Deb blanched, he had done what now?
Steve straightened, his face went white. "You're crying, why are you crying?" he asked.
Rowan sniffed. "I don't know. Because I'm a girl? I'm over emotional? It's my time of the month? Take your pick of excuses, but please take your sorry excuse of an apology and your over-bearing girlfriend and have a happy Thanksgiving," she ordered.
Steve stared at her before lowering his gaze and whispered: "I really am sorry," to her. He then took a hold of Catherine and began to lead her away. "Come on, Cath."
As soon as he was gone, Rowan stumbled out, past Mary and Deb where they were hiding in the shadows, to the parking lot where she leant against a completely marvelous top of the line Audi. She opened it up, and sat in the driver's seat, her legs out of the car, her hands shakily trying to light a cigarette while she continued to cry.
"I can't believe this," Mary hissed. "He told me their falling out was Rowan's fault, that she picked a fight with them over nothing."
So, this had happened before. Rowan had crucified herself for the sake of Catherine Rollins long before tonight. Oh Steven, how blind he had become.
"Well, come on then," Deb hissed pushing herself out of the shadows and to the still sniffling and… what seemed to be chain smoking, young lady.
"There are easier ways to kill yourself, honey," Deb said. Rowan jumped the cigarette fell out of her hands and she struggled to stand up, forgetting she was in a car and bashing her head on the ceiling. She yelped and fell back to her seat holding her head.
"Jesus, you… you startled me," she said. Her mascara was running down her face, painting think watery black lines down her cheeks, and her red lipstick was smudged creating a very vampy kind of look. Even a completely disaster she was stunning, no wonder Steve was constantly struck dumb by her.
"What the hell Rowan!" Mary cried appearing beside Deb. "My brother thinks you hate him. He thinks you don't want him, but it's not you. It's Catherine! Why the hell are you doing this to him?"
Rowan's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. She stuttered over her words and Deb cut both girls off.
"Let's all be calm here," Deb said. "If you don't already know, I'm Deb McGarrett."
"Yes, yes, it's very nice to meet you. You sang wonderfully tonight," Rowan said shaking Deb's hand. "I'm uh… I'm Rowan Pierce."
Well now Deb had the full name.
"And has Steve told you?" she asked, she had a hunch she wanted to see if it was right.
"About the cancer? Yes," she answered. "I think you're very brave."
She liked this girl. No condolences, just what Deb wanted. "He saw you today then?"
"Uh… yes… after… after you told him he came to see me," she whispered. "Danny and I convinced him not to try and convince you to change your mind."
Even better. Steven went to her in his hour of need and he listened to her. "Okay, then you're going to forgive my bluntness," Deb said to her, pausing to gather herself and clear her throat. "Child. It's clear as day that you have feelings for my nephew. It's even clearer that he's head over heels for you. So… does Catherine have something on you? Because I don't get how you're letting a woman like that keep you from someone you care so deeply about."
"No," Rowan said quickly. "It's not… we weren't…"
"Save it, we heard everything," Deb said.
"I have half a mind to storm in there and tell Steve everything. Knock that smug grin right off her face," Mary snapped.
"No!" Rowan shouted, successfully shooting to her feet this time. "Okay. Look. Just. No. Steve… he doesn't… not about me. Okay? He loves Catherine. Really. He does. He… he just… well I think he feels responsible for me and he's got it confused with something else. I was… yeah… you're right… I care… I really… really care about him, and that was affecting him and Catherine and that wasn't fair. So, I said I'd stay away but…"
"But he doesn't," Deb finished.
"It's a bit of both," Rowan answered. "It's like everywhere I turn, he's there. And I wish I could stop it, but I just get tied up to his cases sometimes."
Rowan looked at both women who were clearly not buying it. "Please, don't. Just please don't tell him. He just got this terrible news and I don't want to make things worse. Please? I want him to have happy memories of your trip… of your last Thanksgiving. Please?"
Well Aunt Deb couldn't crush this girl. This poor delusional girl. She was just as blind as Steve. Just as hopelessly in love as he was. But she had a point.
She got in her car, started it up and drove away. Mary shook her head. "Screw this, I'm going to tell him," she snapped.
She whirled away but Deb grabbed her. "No. She was right we want this to be a happy trip," she agreed.
"So, we're not going to tell him that Catherine's keeping Rowan away from him and the others?" Mary asked. "You don't get it, Aunt Deb. This has really put tension on Steve and his team."
"No, I'm not saying we don't tell him, I'm saying we don't tell him right now," Deb corrected. "And I rather gathered that it was putting a lot of strain on him, but you're right, I don't get it because I don't have the whole story. But I think I know who we ask to get it."
Deb held onto Mary's arm and walked with her back into the bar. She had a plan. A good plan and if she played her cards right her nephew would be basking in happiness before she shed her mortal coil.