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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: So, last chapter was purposely left on a cliffhanger, sorry about that. You do find out what happened at the end of this chapter and two chapters after this one, you guys get to read one of my longer, more fluffier chapters. Like I really amped up the cuteness in that chapter. There is going to be some cute things in this chapter as well, but Rowan is mainly focusing on Chin. So we've got some Rowan and the other Five-0 fluff. The Rowan and Steve stuff is coming. I promise! Don't forget to tell me what you think of this chapter, and any fan theories you have for what's going to happen next! See you guys tomorrow.

Chapter 91

The atmosphere at the party was charged for many reasons though Danny assumed that it was for four main reasons. One. They didn't know where the money was and Rowan couldn't tell them. Two. Chin witnessed something on the roof but no one, not even Kono could get him to tell them what happened. Three. Internal Affairs was investigating Chin over this. Four. Steve had not been invited to the party and he had been blowing up everyone's phones to find out where they were. Team meeting he said. None of them had responded.

It was hard sitting there knowing that Chin was going to face an IA shit storm the following morning and neither he nor Rowan would budge on the matter.

They were all silent. Chin because he was worried. Danny because he was sulking. No one knew why Kono was quiet and well Rowan… she had been quiet since she came off that roof. Subdued and oddly way too calm. It was unnerving. Lou was the only one making noise, as he was in the kitchen cooking up his famous chilli.

Rowan cleared her throat and looked around at the people around her. "Did anyone remember to invite Steve?" she asked.

"Uh… no. We purposely forgot to invite Steve," Danny told her and she frowned and groaned at him. "Don't take that tone with me. We're trying to have a nice stress-free night and you and Steve together as a mix are stressful. You keep saying you're good and then neither of you talk to each other and just stare at one another with wide eyes instead. Makes the rest of us feel awkward."

"We're never gonna get any better if you keep me and him apart," Rowan grumbled. Kono smirked at him from her spot on the couch beside Rowan, well she had a point.

"Look, we wanted a quiet night in that didn't end in an argument, and wasn't peppered with awkward looks," Danny said. "Especially with Chin getting pulled in by IA tomorrow."

Chin made a face at Danny, upset he brought it up again, when they had all agred they'd leave him and rowan alone about it. Him bring it up again meant that this night would probably end in an argument anyway. Chin was putting a brave face on, pretending that he wasn't upset or worried but he was. On both accounts. He was upset that IA was after him again, and worried because IA meetings never went well for him. Rowan threw her head back, a bit too violently for someone who had their head bandaged up not 5 days ago, and groaned once more.

"He's gonna be fine. Gabriel escapes and some dude gets stabbed in the eye with a pencil but Chin's gets out of this fine," Rowan said and then all eyes turned to her.

"Uh… what?" Chin asked.

"What?" Rowan shot back. She had been doing that a lot recently. Spitting out a vision and then not remembering that she said it.

"Someone's going to get stabbed in the eye?" Danny promoted.

Rowan paused to think. "Uhm… I think… that mean IA guy is… he also insults Kono. Insinuates that love made her forget Adam was the enemy… or something like that. He's an asshole. Like… a real mean guy," she said. "I hope I don't see him tomorrow."

"Why would you see him tomorrow? You haven't been called in," Danny asked.

Rowan folded her arms over her chest and scowled at him. "I'm going to be there for solidarity," she answered. Danny silently added: "And because it's my fault," in his head for her. They were all thinking it but none of them were gonna say it out loud. No one was that stupid.

"When's your next check up?" Kono asked getting them off of the topic entirely.

Oh Kono, the only one who was working on Rowan's physio with her. Trying to help her with her out of sync reflexes. Danny thought it was hilarious to watch throw her something and then watch it fall and that hand come up with a 10 second delay to catch it. Then she'd scream Danny's name and Steve would descend like the over-protective guard dog he was and the two would just stare at each other like lovelorn idiots.

"Next week. If I'm lucky I'll be cleared to drive," she answered a large smile on her face.

"Oh lord help us," Grover said shoving a large bowl filled to the brim with chilli into Rowan's hands. "Now eat something, you're wasting away."

Rowan, who looked shocked by the sheer amount of food in front of her, turned narrowed eyes of suspicion up to Grover. "Who told him I wasn't eating?" she grumbled.

"I did," came from Kono, Chin and Danny at the same time. Well it looked like all of them had the same idea. Rowan not eating had not been good. She hadn't eaten a good and decent meal since the incident on the roof.

Someone knocked on the door and Danny got up, said that he got it and then went to open it. He didn't know who they were missing, everyone that had been invited was already there and they weren't going to order food. Unless Rowan already did and didn't tell anybody. When he got the door open and saw who was waiting for him on the other side he wondered how he didn't figure out who it was going to be.

"Danny… uh… what are you doing here?" Steve asked. He looked surprised, he looked around like he was confused about which door he had just knocked on.

"What am I doing here… what are you doing here?" Danny shot back.

"I'm here to talk to Chin," Steve answered. "Are you… uh… what's going on?"

"We're uh… we're… uh… I guess it's a little bit of a get together," Danny answered.

Steve glanced inside his eyes finding each of his friends. "I … huh… all of you are here," Steve said sounding so disappointed.

Rowan groaned from her spot on the couch and called out: "I told them to invite you!" Yeah what a help she was. But the way Steve straightened, his body immediately tensing at the sound of her voice, Danny figured he hadn't realized Rowan was there.

Grover peeked out of the kitchen where he was doling out more chilli into bowl and Steve's frown deepened. "Wow… even Grover… you invited everyone… including Grover…" Steve whispered.

"I invited myself along when I heard these mother fuckers talking about a party," Grover said to him and Danny almost swore at him. The look Steve's face could have killed him if it wanted to. "If I can invite myself along, so can you."

"Yeah, come on in Steve," Chin called from the living room. Reluctantly Steve crossed the threshold his eyes falling on Rowan immediately. He took the chair that Danny had vacated, much like he took Danny's car, but everyone knew he did it because the chair was closest to Rowan.

The two of them looked away from each other. Let the awkward staring begin. "So uh… Grover's your personal chef now?" he asked. He was going for a joke to liven things up. To make it seem like he wasn't completely and utterly betrayed by what they had done.

"Girlie won't eat. Thought some of my chilli might get her appetite back," he answered handing out two more bowls. One to Chin and one to Kono.

"Not eating?" Steve echoed, his eyes on Rowan but her eyes were firmly on the bowl in her hands and the spoon she was absently swirling about in it.

"Hasn't eaten since the uh… since the roof," Danny answered and Kono groaned. No, this was not a topic to get him on.

"Huh… yeah… got anything to do with the fact that you won't tell anyone the truth about what happened up there?" Steve snapped his eyes shooting deadly daggers at Rowan.

Rowan didn't look up from the bowl. "I did tell the truth."

"No… no you didn't! You're lying to me again!" he cried. "If you weren't feeling guilty about it yourself, you'd be eating normally. But you have a guilty conscience so you're starving yourself. And it would be fine if you were just fucking with yourself, Rowan, but now you're dragging Chin down with you!"

Rowan looked up to him, her eyes filled with nothing but sadness. Obviously very hurt that he had said that to her, and even he seemed to regret what he had done. But before he could apologise, Rowan carefully put the bowl on the table. "That was wonderful chilli, Lou," she said. "And I'm having a great time at this little fete, but uh… I'm not feeling too good so I'm gonna go lie down… okay?"

She didn't wait for anyone to answer, she was already walking away, as she went past Steve she put a hand to his shoulder, brushing against him lightly that caused his breathing to momentarily shake. He tried to shrug it off like it didn't happen but it had… and they had all noticed it.

"Have a nice night," she called to them as she disappeared into the bedroom that Steve did not know was hers. As soon as the door shut behind her they all turned to Steve was sighing as if expecting the lecture to start almost immediately. And it did.

"And that… that right there… is why you weren't invited," Danny said, but Kono felt bad for Steve.

"Well… now that she's gone… and we're all here, why don't we talk about her birthday, it's a week from now and we still don't know what we're doing," Kono interrupted before anyone could jump on the pile on Steve train.

Steve's eyes narrowed in confusion. "I didn't know you guys were planning a party," he said in a small voice.

This time all eyes turned to Danny who had been giving the task of informing Steve. He was to figure out a time where Steve could join them for secret meetings, far away from Chin's house where Steve had no idea that Rowan was currently living. "Okay… I'm not the only person who just saw that display, I know I wasn't," he said to the people staring at him expectantly. "Do any of you want that repeated at her birthday party?"

It was an accusing question, one that put a dejected slump into Steven McGarrett's proud shoulders.

Kono's heart went out to him. "I'm sure Steve wouldn't do anything to ruin Rowan's birthday, right boss?"

Steve's eyes turned up to hers, hope shined in those baby blue watering eyes. "No… I wouldn't… I'd be… I'd…"

"And, I mean… she invited him… so she obviously wants him there…" Chin added.

"Yeah, but she also invited Catherine," Danny reminded them. "That head injury is affecting her decision-making abilities."

"No, it's only affecting her reflexes," Kono argued. "Rowan's just nice. Too nice. She invited the rest of us and she doesn't want Catherine to feel left out."

"We should take her skating," Grover said interrupting them all. He put a bowl of chilli into Steve's hands and then sat down in Rowan's abandoned spot. "She likes skating, so it's obvious. We taking her skating."

"Can't. They've got some competition at the rink all next week," Danny said. "I looked into that already. It was the first thing I looked into."

"How about roller-blading," Grover offered. "It's still skating, what's the difference."

"Uh, the kind of skating Rowan does is on ice and roller-blading in not on ice," Danny snapped which earned him a dry glare from Grover.

"Skating is skating no matter where we go," he said to them and Kono found herself shrugging.

"Yeah, and afterward we could go for Dinner. She loves Rainbow's, and I'm sure they'd keep it open for breakfast for her if we asked," she offered. Yes! Rowan loved breakfast for dinner, it was her favourite dinner food.

"Alright, alright, so Chin will talk to Rainbows, see about the breakfast-for-dinner, and I'll look for rollerblading places we can rent. The only thing we need to decide is if we're pooling together for a gift or each going for separate things," Danny said and they all nodded. But then nothing came out of their mouths. No one knew what to get her. What would Rowan like? Other than for things to work out between her and Steve?

The door to Rowan's room opened again and she came out, brushed past Steve again whose eyes were on her the second she even graced his peripherals. She reached over him to the bowl of chilli she had left behind.

"It's really good and I'm really hungry," she said to them as she picked it up and shovelled a huge heap into her mouth. She looked to all the faces staring at her and her eyes narrowed in concern. "What?" she asked them but they all just stared laughing.

Rowan scowled at them and then down to Steve whose hand had somehow snaked around her waist when they had been distracted, even Rowan. "Your lack of faith in me depresses me, Steven McGarrett," she said to him, the words shocking him ramrod straight and making his eyes blink a million miles per second.

She turned on heel and walked away, as his arm fell from her waist and he watched her go like a lovelorn fool in a romance movie.

When he turned back, he avoided all of their eyes, a pink tinge of embarrassment on his cheeks. "Uh… I vote we pool together… you know whenever we decide on something" he whispered.

"Of course he does," Danny said, he pointed a warning finger into Steve's face. "You're not allowed to sign the card until we get the cash for your part, McGarrett!"

And then they broke out into laughter again.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

A gun shot. Sprinting. Panic. Fear.

Chin burst out from the stairwell and was struck frozen by what he saw.

Gabriel was rolling on the ground, groaning and grunting in pain, holding his shin. Above him were two Asian men in black suits, wearing them like a uniform. One with a gun, the other taking the bag from Rowan. Tattoos on their hands. Yakuza. She didn't seem bothered by the shot. She didn't seem bothered by Gabriel's screaming. She didn't seem to notice Chin yet but when she does she smiled, a dangerous glittering, Wo Fat kind of smile. She turned to the writhing man at her feet, crouched above him. Put her hand to Gabriel's leg and he cried out in pain, Chin swore he saw a spark of orange fly from Rowan's hands but he couldn't be sure.

She said something low to him but Gabriel shook his head.

"Let him go Rowan," Chin ordered walking towards them, gun raised. The men in black were already retreating, disappearing down a fire escape. "Five-0! Don't move!" he ordered but was ignored. He turned to them, turned away from Rowan for two seconds, not enough for her to cause damage but enough for Rowan to cause some sort of drama.

"No, fuck you, you bitch!" Gabriel shouted and that was all it took.

"Admit what you did!" Rowan shouted and Chin whirled around. When he just glared at her she took her fingers and dug into the bullet wound in his leg and as he screamed in anguish, she shouted over him: "ADMIT WHAT YOU DID TO CHIN!"

"I killed his father!" Gabriel admitted. "I killed his father. I killed Chin Ho's father!"

Rowan wiped his blood on his own pants and then stood up. "Well that explains the dreams," she whispered. She took a step away. Chin moved in for the arrest and Steve made it to the roof. He went to Rowan first and Chin Ho Kelly exchanged a long meaningful glance with her.

And he knew that whatever he just witnessed… he could never tell anyone.

"Wake up."

Chin bolted up and stared at Rowan who was perched at the end of his bed, tugging on tje foot that she had freed from the blankets.

Chin looked at the time. "Rowan it's three in the morning, I have to be at HPD Headquarters for nine am sharp. What could you possibly have dreamed about now?" he asked.

"Your meeting," she whispered.

Chin threw himself back down to the bed. "Then tell me in the morning," he ordered. Rowan pinched the skin on the back of his calf and forced him to sit back up.

"Okay, but this is very important… he's literally gonna say the phrase rolling around in bed with his sister so you gotta not react to that one. You got it? Just… you know… just don't. Don't stand up. Don't ask him to say anything else about your wife. Just sit there and smile. Ask him if he wants pictures cause no one's gonna jump up on his shriveled, useless old dick, but do not… DO NOT stand up and definitely do not leave!" Rowan said.

Chin just stared at her. "That is oddly specific," he said to her, almost drily.

"Okay sass-master. Just listen to me? Will yah?" she ordered and Chin smiled.

"Anything to get you back in bed," he said. Rowan looked around his room as if suddenly realizing that she was perched at the end of his bed like some kind of psychic owl.

"Right… yeah… I should do that," she said, she got up slowly, and turned around only to sink back down to the bed. "Maybe we should just tell them what I did."

Chin kicked the blankets off the bed and slide down to sit beside her. "No, no we shouldn't," he said. "You're not a cop Ro, they'll send you to jail and I'm not going to let that happen."

"They're going to try and crucify you," Rowan said turning to him. "You don't deserve that."

Chin put a hand around her shoulder and tugged her to his side. "You've saved me enough times, it's time to let me save you," he whispered into her hair. "Now… seriously… you should go back to bed."

Rowan sighed again but this time when she did get up she left his room disappearing into the shadows. Wow… how the hell had McGarrett lived with her?

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

When Chin stormed out of that stupid small little room absolutely livid, he wasn't thinking about Rowan's warning. Fuck this. Fuck them. Fuck everything. He was gonna go home and if IA wanted to crucify him, then fine. But he was done with this.

Steve, Kono and Rowan jumped to their feet as soon as they saw them, Kono and Steve called out words of encouragement, reminders that this was what IA was like but it was Rowan's words that stopped him.

"I told you not to leave!"

Yes. She had. She had told him not to leave. She had told him exactly what it was that man was going to say. Still he reacted badly, even though he knew it was coming.

"This is what they do," Kono added. "They get under your skin.

"You just gotta take the personal out of it," Steve said like he understood what Chin was going through.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? There's no way not to make that personal!" he shouted.

Rowan put her hands out, both of them landing on the same arm. "You are better than this. You are better than them. They are sad little people who just want to blame you for everything. Stop proving them right. Stop handing them the rope to hang you. Walk right back in there, and fucking smile. Smile like a maniac cause they can't beat you… and seriously one of them is gonna get stabbed in the eye," she said. Chin looked up to where Steve and Kono were wide eyed and staring at her. Rowan seemed to not see how terrifying that sentence was. She then shot a glare to Steve who had his hands in his pockets as he regarded her. "And if someone gave me my phone back it could be done earlier rather than later."

Steve shook his head. "You are not getting your phone back. Not until I'm absolutely one hundred percent certain that you won't call Wo Fat over this."

Oh dear that meant that Steve didn't know about Wo Fat and the attack. Not good. Or maybe good? It meant he didn't know Rowan's motives for what she did that day. Therefore making it hard to prove what she had done with the money.

Rowan held up her hand like she was in the boy scouts pledging an oath and put the other hand on her heart. "I solemnly swear that I won't use my phone to call Wo Fat to exact revenge."

Steve eyed her with narrowed appraising eyes. He fished her phone out of her pocket and handed it to her. It was in her hand for two seconds before she said: "I said nothing about using the app."

Steve lurched forward, pushing Chin out of the way to get to her. Though she twisted and turned her reflexes still weren't up to snuff and Steve got the phone from her. Thank god for large head injuries. Chin smiled watching them already feeling lighter and a little bit better. Watching as Rowan jumped up on her tippy toes, and up into the air at times, to try and get the phone out of Steve's hand actually put a smile on his face.

He held it up, out of reach, and poor tiny little Rowan couldn't get to it. At one point she was hanging off his bicep like a monkey and it didn't seem to strain Steve at all. She finally dropped to her feet and came to stand in front of him, huffing lightly from all the cardio of dancing around him glaring up into Steve's smirk.

"You're not getting it back. I'm too tall for you," he said.

Rowan sighed all dramatically, Kono, with her own phone in hand came to stand beside Chin. "Watch this," she said in a hushed whisper.

"You're right, you're just too smart for me," she said draping her arms around his neck. Immediately Steve was angling downward, his face so close to hers their noses were almost touching.

And then she kissed him.

Kono started snapping pictures. But Chin, who had no idea that they had started doing well… that… just stood there slack jawed. Did Danny know? Shock hit Steve's features for all of three seconds before he molded into the kiss, the hand with her phone in it lowering until Rowan snatched it from his hands and turned away. She disentangled herself from that kiss as fast as she had started it.

She got the first of her: "HAHA's" out. Steve managed to whisper: "What the fuck just happened?" and then Kono, who was closest to Rowan, ripped the phone out of her hand causing Rowan to whine.

"Don't worry, I got this," she said, probably to Chin because Steve was still processing what happened his eyes blinking a million times a second as he stared at her with shock written all over his face, and maybe, just maybe something a little softer, because he was somewhat smiling. Chin nodded to her.

"Yeah, I got this too," he said squaring up his shoulders and heading back to the room.

"Oh! Hey! Chin?! Would you mind if I borrowed Steve for a bit?" she asked.

Steve's eyes narrowed at her but Chin said that was fine and then sure turned a smile to the perplexed Steve who seemed to be having trouble keeping up with Rowan and her moods.

"Kay Kay! Good luck! Remember! You're better than them!" she shouted, quite loudly which he was sure both of them heard as he had just opened the door. "And the meanest motherfucker gets a pencil to the eye so in the long run he doesn't even matter!"

Chin shut the door behind him loving that that was the sentence Rowan ended on and put on that happy smile she told him to wear as they stared at him in surprise.

"Was that a threat?" the asshole with the smart responses asked, Chin thought his name was Coughlin or something like that.

Chin merely shook his head. "Naw… she's just psychic," he said as he took his seat.

That comment earned him a shaky laugh. "You buy into that crap?" he asked.

Chin's smile widened. "She hasn't been wrong yet."

Wow, now that face… that face was worth it.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

As soon as the door shut Rowan turned back to him. And Steve, who was still reeling from that kiss… my god that kiss… practically took a step away from her.

"So… like… I need you," Rowan said. Steve blinked his eyes are here. Uh… she what? Really? Oh my god he had waited so long to hear her say that. This was it. This was him getting everything he could have ever dreamed about. His face must have betrayed some of his frantic emotion because Rowan suddenly cried: "God, Steve, your help, I need your help!"

Oh. That made more sense. But it didn't fill him with the same kind of emotion.

"Uh…" he started. He wanted to say yes, oh he wanted to say yes. But should he? They hadn't really been alone since they confessed that they liked each other. They had been really awkward cause neither of them knew what to do next and that had made everyone else uncomfortable. And then that kiss… that kiss still had his head reeling and his body in some kind of overload. And Chin needed him. "Danny's available, or Kono, she's pretty scary…"

Rowan blinked her eyes. "Danny can't help me, he tried. And Kono might kill him. I need you."

Oh God. Why was Kono smiling at him like that? He needed to stay strong, he needed to be here for Chin. He looked down to Rowan and her big blue eyes and innocent smile and felt his iron will crumbling.

"I need someone intimidating," she went on to explain when Steve didn't answer. "To help me get this guy to be reasonable. And you're the most intimidating guy I know. No offence."

She said that last bit to Kono who shrugged with indifference and continued to watch the by play of the conversation with rapt interest.

She had grabbed the lapels of the nice suit jacket he was wearing and was trying to tug him into moving. He didn't move, of course, he brushed her hands away before she could wrinkle his suit but that didn't deter her. She grabbed his arm and then he was letting her pull him away. Why struggle right? He wanted to go. She finally wanted him with to do something for her. Why not just go with it?

"What about Wo? Why can't he help you?" he asked, he winced at the bitterness that even he could hear in his voice.

"He's in jail… in Colorado," she reminded him. "I don't think he can help me with this."

He could, of course, but whatever he did would have totally been illegal, or bloody. Steve realized that she wasn't picking the most intimidating person on the island, she was picking the person that would go about this in a legal manner and was the least likely to kill someone.

"Alright fine," he said finally relenting. "I'll go, but this better be quick."

They walked in silence. A silence that Steve wanted to fill with something, anything, but he was still nervous. They were on supposed good terms, but he wanted to kiss her and he wasn't sure what conversation he had to pick to get him to that option. He wanted them to be on the road to getting better but he didn't know what direction that was in. So they walked in silence all the way to his truck. He unlocked the doors, loving that she just hopped in like she belonged there. He followed suit, finally working up the nerve to say something to her. God, she made him that nervous teenager again, freezing up at the sight of the pretty girl he wanted to ask out.

"What is this about?" he asked her. Not where was she taking him, he was down to drive around a little bit, soak up this hit of her that his clearly addicted body so badly craved, before their time together came to an end. Maybe whatever this was would get him bonus points in her books, could be a way to prove to her that he was trust worthy, and not controlling… or emotionally abusive.

"My car," she answered immediately.

Steve blinked his eyes, actually stopped reversing his truck and turned to her. "You don't have a car," he reminded her. "And you're not allowed to drive yet."

"Yes, Steve, I know that," she growled and glared at him until he got the truck out of his parking spot and out on the road. "Turn left. This is about my other car."

"Rowan that makes no sense," he sighed.

"My other world car," she clarified. "It was the first car I ever bought with my own money. It was my dad's first car, well the model, the model was my dad's first car too. We'd go for drives on Friday nights with my brother in the back and we'd eat burgers, fries and milkshakes by the water. And I've found it."

"But it's not your car," he said as she directed him through another turn. "Not really. How do you even know it's the same one?"

"Because it was custom painted purple before I bought it, it was why I bought it in the first place and I had to have it shipped in to me. But I couldn't remember from where. But I found it. Here. On Oahu. I found it and this guy won't give me a reasonable price," she said.

Steve couldn't help but stare at her. She had a car shipped to her? How much fucking money did she have?

"How old were you when you got the car?" he asked.

"Uh, I would have just gotten my G licence so… eighteen maybe nineteen?" she said after some thought. "Turn right and it's the little garage on the left."

Steve finally stopped paying attention to her and turned his attention to the area. This was a sketchy area. Suddenly he was worried that Rowan had been hanging around this area and putting herself in danger. He parked the truck on the side of the road and immediately got his gun and badge out of his glove compartment. Just in case.

Rowan smiled at him a sort of toothy wild grin. "Oh yes, do that thing you do!" she cried. When Steve just glared at her she elaborated. "You know where you flash a badge, scream Five-0 and break down a door. That should help him convince him to give me the car."

He wanted to tell her that he didn't do that. But as he thought about it… he really did do that often, didn't he? Also he wasn't here to terrify some guy into giving her a car. Still Rowan rushed out of his truck before he could correct her and he had no choice but to follow her onto the lot. He had to walk fast because Rowan had rushed over to one particular car.

It was a 1968 Pontiac GTO custom painted a pastel purple color. The paint was in good condition in most places but the seats sure as hell weren't. They were actually missing. As was the steering wheel and the windows. Steve immediately thought chop shop but he wasn't certain just yet so he kept his mouth shut. What had him really shocked was the model of the car and how expensive this type of car was.

"Rowan… this is an 80-thousand-dollar car," he said. "You bought an 80-thousand-dollar car and had it shipped to you when you were eighteen?"

Rowan seemed to think that all of this was normal because she merely shrugged and said: "Uh… yeah."

"Rowan what the hell were you doing to make that much money at that age?" he asked. He was pretty sure he knew. He thought it had something to do with the skating, but how the hell was she making money at that age just be skating?

"I'd tell you but you wouldn't believe me," she said.

Steve was going to press the issue but a man came up to them. He wasn't exactly oozing of legitimacy either. He was wearing the typical blue overalls most mechanics wore but he was covered in gang tattoos, prison tattoos and was sporting a nice red do-rag. Steve was trying to give this guy the benefit of the doubt but he was also giving him a super bad vibe.

"You're back again chica?" he said. "You better be ready to pay the price."

Steve didn't like the way he talked to Rowan. Like she was an idiot. Like she didn't know what she was doing. Like she was a nuisance. He looked Steve up and down in an appraising manner and whatever he saw didn't seem to intimidate him at all. Oh Steve could fix that.

"How many mens you going to bring to scare me chica?" he asked. "It didn't work with your blonde chipmunk it's not going to work with Mr. Muscles over here."

Ah, so she had already brought Danny and it didn't work. Steve immediately wanted to know if this man had called Danny a blonde chipmunk to his face. He was going to call him that every day all the time now. Danny was gonna hate it but Steve was already grinning just thinking about it.

"He's just here for moral support, Emilio" she said waving Steve away who remembered he was supposed to be intimidating and put his angry face back on. "He's going to help me negotiate a reasonable price."

"My price is reasonable," he argued.

"This car is not worth 80 grand," Rowan said and Steve blanched at the number. "It's a fucking shell. It has nothing in it." She squatted down in front of the car and reached under the right bumper where the level to pop the hood was. Holy shit. Rowan really did own that car. Unless someone owned a classic there was no way they'd guess that the lever was there.

"And look, all the engine parts are gone," she said. Steve looked at it and she was right. It had been gutted. Steve's suspicions were confirmed as soon as he saw it.

"This is a chop shop," he said out loud.

Rowan's eyes grew wide, she turned to Emilio with a wide grin. "Oh my god! You have to give me the car now!" she crowed.

Emilio glared at her he reached for something behind him, Steve automatically assumed gun so he drew his lightning fast. "I don't think so," he said. Ignoring the way Rowan's eyes were whipping back and forth between them in horror. She had been smart enough to back away as soon as Steve's gun came out.

"Okay, we won't tell anyone if you give me the car," she said.

"No, Rowan," Steve said, he never took his eyes off of Emilio who was glaring at the two of them.

Rowan turned to him and frowned. "What do you mean no?"

Steve pulled out his badge and said: "Five-0, you're under arrest," he said and Rowan groaned.

"Can't we just let me take the car, no one has to know it was here," she whined. Steve and Emilio turned a glare to her and she sighed dramatically. "Ugh. I should have just called Wo."

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Danny came to the lot to help Steve with the cars and the paperwork. Danny spread his arms out as he approached Steve with that familiar what gives gesture and Steve scowled.

Before Danny could anything snarky Steve said: "How's my little blonde chipmunk?"

Danny stopped in his tracks, half pivoted and then turned to Steve and pointed one finger into his face. "Don't… Don't you ever call me that again," he snapped. He looked around the lot and said: "She asked you to be intimidating not to arrest the guy."

Steve sighed. "He's running an illegal chop shop, what was I supposed to do?" he asked.

"Help her get the car," Danny said. "That car represented something really important to her."

He knew that Rowan was upset. She had slapped him before the cops got there. Tears in her eyes. Swearing up and down she would never ask him for help ever again. He had just let her rail, let her yell at him and then eventually he let her walk away. Even though every word punctured his heart. So much for working things out, fuck, he had just made things so much worse between them. But this has been a good learning moment for him.

He still couldn't trust her, she couldn't trust him. They weren't good for each other.

But he didn't need the guilt trip from his friend.

"Look! What was I supposed to do?" Steve snapped pointing at them. "She brought me to a chop shop and I'm not above the law enough to ignore something as blatantly illegal as this. So I had no choice. She's already made me feel terrible about this so I don't need it from you too."

"You did too have a choice!" Rowan shouted appearing beside him. Steve jumped and half yelped cause he hadn't been expecting her then hung his head as she glared at him hands on her hips. "After all the times you abused your power to harass me you didn't think you could make it up to me by abusing your power to get me my car?"

"Rowan! No. It wouldn't be ethical to…"

"But it was perfectly fine to arrest me a bunch of times cause you were mad?" she shot back.

"No. No, it wasn't. Which was how you got me suspended!" Steve shouted back at her. Danny muttered: "Yeah only for three days," which won him a glare from Steve who didn't need that right now.

Rowan scowled at him. "You are absolutely useless. I should have called Wo Fat! He would have helped me!" she cried and Steve jerked like he had been slapped. She then turned to Danny and said: "I will be at the Camaro, please give me a ride back to HPD Headquarters, I'd like to be there when Chin gets out."

Danny nodded to her and then waited for her to go before he piped up again. "That car meant the same thing to her as the Marquis does to you," Danny said. He caught Steve's glare and he raised his hands in surrender. "And that will be the last thing I say about the matter."

It didn't matter whether or not it was true. He saw the disappointment in his friend's eyes, the same type of disappointment that Steve had seen in Rowan's when he told her the car was going to be held as evidence. They wouldn't need to say anything, he knew what they were thinking, and the guilt wouldn't go away.