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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Kay guys, one more chapter. One more chapter and Catherine's precarious house of cards is gonna collapse around her. Are you guys excited? Cause I'm excited! I can't wait to see what you guys think of that chapter. I also can't wait to see what you guys think of this chapter. Please tell me what you think! And I'll see you guys on Tuesday!
Chapter 82
Gunshots peppered the air and though everything in his body hurt, and he could barely see out of his swollen eyes, Matthew Williams instinctively tensed. Marco Reyes wouldn't just be shooting up his own building so this had to be an attack and he was injured, tortured and tied to a chair.
The gunshots got louder, thumping and crashing echoed above him. He struggled against his bonds but they were just as tight as they were an hour ago and the day before and the day before that and however long ago it was they had taken him and tied him up down here.
There was one big bang a bang so loud it had to be a bomb or grenade. A bang that shook everything, even him, a bang that took the door off its hinges and then all there was was silence and the smoke drifting into his room.
From the smoke appeared a figure. A lone figure, in black tactical gear wearing a white plastic rabbit's mask. In his hand was the biggest gun Matthew had ever seen.
"You Matty Williams?" the rabbit asked, his voice muffled under the plastic.
"Uh… yeah?" he answered. Was it weird that this guy was calling him by his nickname? He was in too much pain to figure that out. The rabbit pulled out his phone dialed a number and said: "Yeah. Got him." Three words, that's all, and then the phone was hung up and back in his pocket.
He slung his gun over his shoulder and then pulled out a knife. He cut Matt free and then pulled him up. As soon as he was on his feet, he crumpled, so quickly that the rabbit had to lunge to keep him from hitting the ground. Matt knew then that they had actually managed to break his leg, it wasn't just in pain, like he was hoping, it was full out broken.
"I've been told to tell you I'm your Rowan-gram, but I refuse to do that," he said as he dragged him towards the door. "I'm to take you somewhere safe until she or her brother decide what to do with you."
Matt didn't know a Rowan or a guy with a sister named Rowan. He didn't like the sound of the whole until they decide what to do with you option either. It sounded ominous but he didn't have many other options. They got through the door and all he saw was carnage. Blood, bodies, ash, and flames.
Any ol'powerful or smart person could take on Marco Reyes but it would take a formidable opponent to decimate him the way this Rowan had. That made him wonder what that kind of person could want with him and just what that meant in the long run.
Not for the first time since he had been taken by Marco Reyes, Matthew Williams wished for his brother.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan had woken up that morning with a lingering feeling of familiarity. Adam's face amongst a scenic area she recognized. A town she used to take a ferry to, where she'd go when she was skipping school. A diner that had the best malt milkshakes. Familiar mountains. Waters even more familiar because she used to swim in them, used to take kayaks and canoes out on.
She called Kono immediately. It was a social call, one where she could smile at the sound of her friend's voice and she ended it with heading. "Vancouver, BC."
Then a message had come through. "Package retrieved," and she nearly whooped with joy. It had worked. She had changed another outcome. She had saved Matthew Williams. Which meant Danny wouldn't… uh… well she was saving Danny from something but she wasn't sure what anymore. She was sure it would come back to her… you know when the time came.
But though her day started out alright, it didn't stay that way.
She had returned the Audi to Wo Fat after the disastrous night at the La Mariana Tiki Bar and had been too afraid to go get it again. Lest Steve notice and flip his shit over her driving a car that was technically stolen out of the evidence lot. After that night she was on edge. For several reasons. For starters, she had taken that car to the bar because she didn't think Steve was going to be there, then he showed up. How he didn't notice it sitting in the lot was beyond her. Then, of course, his sister and his aunt over heard the argument between Rowan and Catherine, and now knew the truth about what had happened between her and Steve. Rowan now had to worry about when they'd tell him, she was waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop, waiting for Steve to show up and yell at her. Practicing her lies so he wouldn't find out what really happened. And it was because she had been looking over shoulder, expecting Steve to drop in out of the blue that she realized that someone actually had been following her. At first she thought it was just a cop following the car, which was why she hid it. Then she figured it was Steven waiting to approach her, but it wasn't someone she recognized and he followed her even if she wasn't in the car.
She saw him sporadically and after getting a good glimpse at his face she knew she had seen him before. And that worried her because that meant this man had been following her for a very long time.
So because she didn't have the car, because she was preoccupied with a mysterious man following her she ended up missing the very important band meeting with Pete and the other execs about Alex's new album and the track listings and the way the profits would be divided up. But it was when Pete was walking through her all of that that she learned just what Alex had done in her absence.
"I'm sorry, walk me through this again. He said what?" Rowan asked.
"The rights to your songs are shared," Pete told her. "He helped you write them."
"No, he didn't. I mean, I'd play chords and ask his opinion but that shouldn't mean he gets creative rights," Rowan cried. She didn't mind sharing on the songs that were going on the album but there was one song, one he was never supposed to get his hands on.
Hallelujah.
"Look, I don't care about the others but Hallelujah was never meant for him. I want it off the album," she said.
"It's your word against his, and he said you two had a really nasty break up," Pete told her. He said what now? "Said he found you with another guy."
He had taken their break up story and made her the villain. WHAT THE FUCK?! There was no point arguing though because then she'd look crazy. Which had to be why Alex did this. Any attempt to argue that the songs were hers and hers along after a break up like that would make her look like the evil ex out to punish him. Smart move. Definitely well played.
"Okay, so how do I prove it's mine then? What does it take to get the song pulled?"
"A waiver signed by him releasing his rights," Pete said and then he handed her the waiver, all typed up and ready to go. Well at least she knew who it was he believed, because it sure as hell wasn't Alex.
"Thanks," she said and then she left his office.
Alex and his bandmates were in the front lobby laughing it up but they stopped the second they saw her.
"Really Alex?" she asked her voice shaking. "A bad break up? You caught me cheating? AND you think you have rights to my songs? When the hell did you get so fucking selfish and greedy? Well guess what, after this, I'm not writing a single fucking song for you again, got me? Write your own."
She did wait for his excuse she ignored the calls for her to come back. She knew he'd never sign the paper in her hands, not without getting something first. Not without being scared first. But who could she call? Steve could help her, and he probably would if she asked him. She could but she wouldn't, wouldn't because then she'd have to tell Steve what happened and she was too embarrassed to do that. Danny and Chin would gladly help but neither of them was intimidating enough, Alex wouldn't take them seriously.
Rowan stormed out of the office, down to the elevators and down to the bottom floor. She pulled out her phone once she got reception and called the guy she missed. Screw the bus she'd walk back to Chin's.
"Hey," she said when he finally picked up. There was a bit of a pause as if he were assessing her opening line.
"What's wrong?" Wo finally asked. That surprised her, he knew from how she said hello that she wasn't okay? How observant of him.
"I had a fight with Alex," she whispered, not even bothering to deny it. "He… he stole my songs."
She was dangerously close to crying. She could hear Wo Fat's scowl on the phone. "I told you not to work with him," he growled. "How does one even steal a song? Or do you mean he stole your book of song notes? Cause we can get that back no problem."
"He's claimed the rights to my songs. He's told everyone we had a bad break up and I was caught cheating on him so that when I complained I'd look like the crazy lying ex," she told him. There was a brief pause where she imagined him nodding along and mulling the situation over.
"Say the word and I'll have someone break his legs. Say the other word and I'll make sure he never sings another not ever again," he growled.
Rowan sighed but couldn't hide the smile on her lips. "I can't deal with everything by letting you kill or maim people," she told him and he growled at her. "Well you can't."
"But you called me for advice, right?" he asked. "Just like the microfiche, just like Matty."
"Oh, how is he?" Rowan asked. "You said he was pretty badly roughed up. Did you get a doctor in to look at him?"
"Last update said he was sedated. They checked for breaks, only two but they were extensive. One was in his left leg, he might walk with a limp even after it's healed. The second was a fracture to his jaw. He's been wired shut. Which has brought his house mates much joy," he answered. "Otherwise, he's fine. We'll patch him up and keep an eye on him until it's time to reunite the Williamses."
"That's good," she murmured.
Wo Fat sighed at her. "Alright, listen to me very carefully. You can get him to sign away his rights to the songs. You'll need the waiver for him to sign and you'll need something to make him do it. Since you don't want things to get physical, we'll have to use psychological warfare. Simply put, Ro, you'll have to blackmail him."
It sounded pretty straight forward. Rowan stopped walking, she had caught a glimpse of something in the store window, not something she wanted to buy but something moving slightly behind her but on the other side of the street. Looking at her reflection she saw him again. The man who had been following her.
"Wo… do you have someone following me?" she asked. It would be like him to have someone watching her, he didn't trust Steve to keep tabs on her properly, he didn't trust her out on her own.
"What?" came out of the phone, icy with fear. And not the she caught me kind either. "Ro… where are you?"
"Answer the question," she ordered.
"No, Ro. No I don't have people following you. Are you being followed right now? Can you duck into a shop? Duck into a shop and call McGarrett… wait… McGarrett… damn he must not have…"
And then he trailed off. Steve? Steve had… had he…
"Finish that sentence," Rowan ordered already getting angry but when he didn't answer she shouted: "Wo Fat you finish that sentence right now."
He sighed. "You're not gonna like this, Ro, but uh… McGarrett's has had a PI following you since you got out of the hospital. But that might not be him so approach with—"
Since she… oh that rat bastard. Rowan inhaled sharply before snapping: "I'll call you back," and then ending the call.
She turned on heel and stalked towards him, the man now pretending to read the newspaper. As soon as she got close, ripped the newspapers out of his hands so he had to look her right in the eye and said: "Tell me who's paying you to follow me or I swear to god I'll scream."
His face went white, he tried to stutter out an excuse but when Rowan inhaled to scream just like she said she would the man hissed: "For god sake don't make a scene."
"If you don't tell me who hired you to follow me, you won't get a scene you'll get a whole Broadway musical!"
"Jesus Christ," he said staring at her. "Calm down. I got hired by Steven McGarrett. He's just looking out for you, kid."
Rowan let him go. Just thinking that he did it was completely different from hearing he did it. I mean, come on, not even Wo Fat had people flat out following her. What the hell was Steven thinking? The shock quickly left her and once again Rowan was absolutely livid.
"Yeah, well someone needed to look out for him."
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
There were a lot of things that Danny was expecting when someone insistently knocked on his door until he opened it but Aunt Deb, Mary and baby Joanie on his doorstep was not on the list of things he thought were rapping at his door that morning.
Danny stared at them not sure what this was but he had a feeling that this wasn't good. "Hello ladies, to what do I own the pleasure of this visit to?" he asked.
"You have answers," Mary said. "We know it."
"And we're going to make you talk!" Aunt Deb cried. Joanie cooed from Mary's arms punctuating the last remark and making it a little less threatening. Danny smiled down to her.
"Alright Capone," he said to them. "Come in. If you ask me nicely not only will I tell you all you need to know, but I'll throw in a frittata too."
"I've heard about your frittatas," Mary said following him into his apartment. "I'll pass."
"Steve's a liar. They're not as lethal as he claims them to be… the putz," Danny said moving back to the stove to finish off his breakfast.
"Speaking of Steve…. What's going on with him and Rowan," Aunt Deb asked. "Mary tried to explain and I don't follow. You're his best friend…" "I'm his partner…" "Whatever you wanna call it, sweetie. You're his partner you know it all."
"Best friend was better," Danny muttered to himself. He put the finished frittata onto a plate, turned off all the burners and then braced himself on the counter and said: "What do you want to know about him and Rowan."
"All of it." Aunt Deb demanded. "I want all the dirty details."
"Alright. We found Rowan floating in the middle of the ocean and that would be when it started," Danny said. "He… uh… he has some pretty complicated feelings for Rowan. He goes between being livid and being in love with her. Well… I wouldn't call it love, more like lust and obsession, but it's easier to say love…"
"So why hasn't he just told her that?" Aunt Deb asked.
"Wo Fat," Danny snarled bitterly. "Well that's not all true. First it was stubbornness, a refusal to admit it, and then it was Wo Fat. He kidnapped Rowan, held her hostage and then decided he wanted to keep her. When we got Rowan back she was almost dead and Steve broke. I had never seen him so devastated, so scared before. When she pulled through, when she woke up he told her how he felt and she said she felt the same way."
"But they're not together! What happened?" Aunt Deb asked sounding terribly frustrated. Yes, they were all very frustrated with Steve and Rowan's inability to find a way to work it out.
"I'm not sure how it happened, but uh… Rowan decided that she was derailing Steve's life, that he and Catherine were meant to be and she told him that even though she had feelings for him she didn't think they were worth wrecking things with Catherine and she wanted to move out of his place and in with her boyfriend at the time, which was Alex…" Danny explained.
"They're not together anymore?" Mary interrupted hope on her face, or maybe she looked like that because she had just been playing with Joan.
"Yeah, he was cheating. So she obviously broke it off with him before Thanksgiving, but she asked me not to tell Steve because she's been living with Chin since then and she's embarrassed about the whole situation," Danny said.
"Okay. So she moves out and Steve takes it personally," Aunt Deb summed up. "But that doesn't explain what we witnessed."
"Okay, what you have to understand is that Steve has not taken any of this well. Rowan moved out, he found out she's still in contact with that guy who kidnapped her, who shot her, who was instrumental to getting John killed too, and he just sort of lost all semblance of sanity. He has crossed some major lines, he's past obsessed, and its honestly quite scary to see him like that. We all know he's not normally like this but Rowan has this way of setting him off," Danny admitted. "Last week he drugged her and took her to Japan to help with this case we were working on the side. Normally Steve wouldn't do anything like that, but she said no to him and he just didn't see it as an issue cause he thought she was just saying no to be spiteful."
"Damn," Mary breathed out. "That's really strange behaviour for him. Like really unhealthy behaviour."
"Okay, can I hazard a guess here," Deb asked. "Catherine really doesn't like Steve's behaviour… or Rowan. Does she?"
"Well would you like it if your boyfriend was obsessed with another girl?" Mary shot back. "I mean it doesn't excuse what we witnessed but I mean… I kind of get it now."
"Wait… hold on a second. If you didn't mean the strange behaviour between Steve and Rowan what the hell did you witness?"
"On Thanksgiving, we heard Rowan and Catherine arguing," Mary explained. "A lot of things were said that we didn't understand."
"Fuck. Catherine went after her again? Rowan didn't agree to anything did she?" Danny asked when both women shrugged, he realized that he was going to have to do damage control with Rowan ASAP before she started another argument… wait… she had an argument with Steve last night. Fuck. That was what that was about then. He sighed to them. "Okay… well… did I clear everything up?"
"Not fully," Aunt Deb said. "When did Catherine tell Rowan to get herself out of Steve's life?"
"About a month ago. And it wasn't just Steve's life it was all our lives."
"And that's bad isn't it," Aunt Deb asked.
"Yep. Rowan has no one else on the island. Her family's gone. We were all she had. Catherine made her drop us all, which included my daughter, and all her secondary mutual friends."
"And, let me guess, Catherine got her to do it by telling her it would make everyone happier, especially Steve. Except it didn't. It made Steve worse which, by proxy, made the situation worse for all of you," Aunt Deb guessed and Danny nodded.
"Yep. They're currently at odds… again… even though they were on their way to getting better, all because Catherine had to be selfish," Danny grumbled. "It's like every time they start to fix themselves something happens to make it worse. Like after Japan, Steve realized that he fucked up, he fixed his mistake, he apologized and then after Thanksgiving dinner he and Rowan had another row, now… thanks to you…I know it's because Catherine got to her again. What did she say this time?"
"She told Rowan to leave him alone and if she didn't Catherine would make things uncomfortable for her," Mary explained. "And then Steve walked in and Rowan lied about what they were arguing about and made herself the bad guy."
"And then went out into the parking lot and cried," Aunt Deb finished for her.
Danny winced. "Yeah… Rowan… she has a tendency to crucify herself for the sake of others, especially Steve and his happiness… and… well… she really misses him…"
"No, she likes him," Aunt Deb clarified. "Probably as much as Steve likes her."
Danny sighed. Yeah, that was probably true too. "I know. We all know. The only people who don't get it are them," he agreed.
"If you know all this why hasn't anyone tried to intervene?" Mary snapped. "Why hasn't someone told Steve what happened? What Catherine did?"
"Both of them are pretty stubborn. Rowan and Catherine already got in to a fight once over this. And Rowan really doesn't want to tell him. Has a panic attack if we bring it up. And honestly, what we're really afraid of is what he'll do when he finds out," Danny told them. "So whatever you two are thinking about… don't. You don't have to work with him. You won't deal with what we deal with and Steve… when he gets really mad at her… he arrests her. So please… honestly, if he arrests Rowan again he'll get suspended from Five-0. No one wants to deal with that either."
Both women nodded and Danny's phone went off. McGarrett was calling him. Just fucking great. "Kay ladies, this is probably a case. Is there anything else you wanted to add?"
They both said no and Danny smiled. He answered the phone watching as the ladies let themselves out of the apartment he rented. He picked up the phone and tried to settle the knot of worry that had tangled up in his stomach. He could trust them to be quiet couldn't he?
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Chin and Steve had taken their suspect, an elderly Japanese man who attempted to kill a War Vet that morning, to the Honouliuli internment camp out by Waipahu. The place was gone, all over grown with grass and reeds, with only a few structures still standing and few stones still embedded in the ground to signal paths.
David, their suspect, had spent part of his childhood here. It was where his father was murdered. It was the case Steve had his team working.
He had been going through the place, he was there to jog his memory. To see if he could remember any other details about his father's murder.
He had just recounted his version of events from start to finish and how he came to believe that Ezra Clarke, the man he had tried to murder that morning, was the man who killed his father. Steve and Chin had been taking all of this in when David glanced behind them and asked: "A friend of yours?"
Steve turned around in time to see a flashy black Audi he would forever recognize slide to a stop kicking up all the dust around his blue truck. Rowan slammed the car door and barrelled towards him. Immediately he assumed something was wrong, but his eyes were on that car. The car that went missing out of HPD impound lot.
"Uh… whose car is that?" Steve asked once she got closer.
Rowan whipped off her sunglasses and he saw that her face was smudged with tear stains and her eyes were burning with an unchecked rage. He was in for an argument, he could tell but he couldn't figure out why she was mad at him. At this point it could be anything.
"It's Wo's car, he left it for me in case I needed it," Rowan snapped.
"That's stolen property, Ro," he reminded her.
"Yeah? You wanna arrest me again?" she shouted. Holy fuck she really was freaking out. Beside him Chin backed away. Smart move, if only he could get away with that.
"No, I don't but you should probably turn that in," he said. "How did you find me out here? Huh?"
"Danny told me!" she snapped. "But none of that matters because you have had a P.I. following me for the last eight months!"
Oh shit.
Steve tried to laugh it off. "I don't have a P.I. following you, I don't care enough about you to waste my money on that…"
"Really, so Mick St. Cloud's friend Thomas Magnum hasn't been paid, by you, to follow me around?" she asked. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"Who told you that?" Steve growled wondering if it was Danny who also told her about the P.I. too. Cause if it was Danny, he was gonna kill him.
"The fucking P.I!"
Damn he should have picked up the phone when he called that morning, he just hadn't had the time to think about it. Steve looked down at the dirt and then back up at her.
"I didn't feel like I had a choice," Steve answered. "You were lying to me and I…"
And then Rowan slapped him. Right across the face. She hadn't slapped him since he inferred that he thought she wasn't pretty enough for Alex.
"Don't you see how twisted all this is?" she shouted. "Don't you see how wrong all of this is? How badly you're treating me?"
With a hand to his cheek, trying to rub the stinging out of it, Steve glared at her. "Well maybe if you'd stop lying… or cutting me out… or spending all of your time turning yourself into a carbon copy of Wo Fat… I wouldn't feel like I had to resort to such levels of subterfuge to get answers!"
"It is my choice to have you in my life, my choice to tell you about my secrets. You don't get to get mad at me for not wanting you in my life when you're doing things like this! Why would I want you around huh? You've arrested me, you shook me like a magic eight ball and now you've had someone following me around for almost a whole year! That's an invasion of privacy, you asshole," she shouted, tears streaming down her face. "This is exactly why she… why she…"
"Why who what?" Steve snapped but Rowan had clammed up. She looked away from him and shook her head. When Rowan wouldn't answer he added: "Look I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on."
"Why does it matter Steve?" she asked him. "Why? You're not going to listen to me, you don't even understand what you've done wrong, or why this scares me. Admit it, you don't want to help me, you want to control me."
Steve jerked like she had hit him again. Is that what she thought about him? Huh? Really? Was that really what it looked like to her? Rowan scoffed at him and turned to walk away.
"You need to return that car, Ro!" he called out to her but Rowan didn't answer him in words, she answered him by flipping him the middle finger over her shoulder.
"She was going to find out eventually," Chin added once she was in the car and revving it to go. They watched her peel out, dust and grass flying before she raced away. "And she's got a point about the behaviour."
Steve turned a glare at him. "Who asked you?" he snapped and then stormed away. He'd call the car into HPD. He wouldn't say it was Rowan driving but if they caught her in the car and arrested her well… he'd let her sit in a cell and rescue her once he was done with his case.
That would teach her. Now wouldn't it?
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Danny, Chin and Grace were sitting in the Drive Test center waiting for Rowan to get back. It had been a messy week. Danny had told Chin about Mary and Aunt Deb's interrogation of him. Chin had found it both hilarious and stressing that the two women knew about the situation and that it didn't bode well for either Rowan or Catherine. Chin told him about Rowan's blow up over at the remains of the internment camp, how she knew about the P.I. and how Steve had called HPD to tell them he saw Wo Fat's Audi which had been missing from the HPD impound for about eight months.
Turns out Rowan had it the whole time. Where the hell had she been hiding that thing? It was clear that Steve was hoping that they'd find Rowan with the car and he'd have to go and bail her out, but they never found her and that never happened. All that happened was that he got a call from his P.I. saying he quit. Danny practically begged him not to hire another P.I. and hopefully Steve listened.
"What do you think is gonna happen?" Chin asked. And for a moment he thought he was asking about the Aunt Deb and Mary vs Catherine situation they were sure they were staring down now. "Is she gonna pass or fail?"
"Well… if she drives the way she's be driving with me she should be okay," Danny said. That was an easy question, it wasn't as loaded as he previously thought.
"How did you get her to drive like that?" Chin asked. "It was like I was riding with a stunt driver every time I went out with her."
"I put Grace in the car," Danny said with a shrug. "It was like driving Miss Daisy after that."
"Smart!" Chin congratulated him and Danny nodded. "Think anything will come from the Aunt Deb and Mary conversation."
"Yeah I think they're gonna tell him and Steve's gonna lose it. It's just a matter of when they do it," Danny said. "He's not doing so well as of late so I don't think it's going to end well when it does happen. And here's a question… uh… none of you thought to put a stop to him dragging her to Japan?"
"By the time we realized she was there against her will, we were in the air," Chin said with a sigh.
"How? Her unconscious body wasn't enough?" Danny snapped back.
"No. Because she wasn't unconscious… or at least we didn't think that she was. We thought she was just sleeping. It wasn't until she woke up in the state that she was in that we realized what he had done," Chin explained. "Should have heard Catherine scream at him. I spent the whole time in the plane bathroom with her as she threw up. It was a terrible flight for all of us."
It was probably worse for Rowan. Poor Ro. Her test car drove up and everyone leant forward. "Ah, this is it," Danny sighed. And then they saw Rowan's head pop up, that mop of red followed by a giant grin.
Well that was a good sign.
They all went outside, big smiles on their faces to congratulate Rowan on her driving. As she hugged Danny he spotted a familiar blue truck driving away. They hadn't even told Steve she was going for her test. How the hell had he known to come?
"Can we go to the Side Street diner to celebrate?" Grace asked and Danny forced himself to look away from the retreating truck and down to his daughter.
"Sure thing, Gracie," he said ruffling her hair. "And congrats to you, Miss. Speed demon."
As he slung an arm around Rowan he sighed. Steve was only getting worse and he had no idea what to do about it.