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A/N: Oh Gosh, you guys really didn't like last chapter. Can I say that Steve does make it up to her? He does it in the next chapter, which is coincidentally the cutest chapter I have written to date! Are you guys at least liking where it's going? I know both Steve and Rowan are being difficult, but they're both trying to make themselves better. And I promise that they do get together. It is happening. Remember, I have them officially together at the end of season 4, and the first episode of season 5 involves Steve and Rowan arguing about the label he has vs the one she wants so you know, not long to wait. Have I mentioned that I'm ALMOST done writing season 4? Seriously. I'm on episode 21 (which is a long ass motherfucker, I swear it's got to be at least 6 chapters right now, a lot happens in it) and then I just have rewrite episode 22. I'm so excited. I'm like burning through this story! So As always, please review cause I love hearing from you. Tell me what you're excited for! I'll see you tomorrow!
P.S. JP it sounded like you were confused about something in your last review. If you need met to clear it up for you, just say so in your next review and I can do that for you. (That goes for anyone else who needs clarification about something, I'm more than willing to A any Qs you guys have)
Chapter 92
"Let's talk about the money," Rex Coughlin said to Chin who was suddenly not as suave and cool as he was before. He shifted in his seat and scowled at him.
"25 million that Gabriel hid, and the 18 million from the bag from the bank, both missing," he continued. "The area was searched, Gabriel was 100% certain that there were two shooters on that roof and he hasn't budged about that. Neither the bag nor the shooters have turned up."
"Is there a question there?" Chin Ho snapped.
"Well how do you explain it?" he asked.
"As I told everyone else," he growled, "When I got on the roof Rowan was alone, she didn't have a bag, and Gabriel was on the floor."
"And Miss. Pierce has confirmed this," he said absently which Chin Ho confirmed to be true.
"But you never brought her in for questioning… in fact… no one can tell me how she even ended up there. In fact that seems to be a pattern in a lot of your cases…"
"Rowan just turns up. Okay?" Chin said.
"Psychic, you said," Rex confirmed. Chin scowled. "You guys really do buy into that huh?"
"You don't know her… you don't know what she's like…"
"I think it's more likely that Rowan, who we already know has ties to a criminal mastermind that Five-0 personally saw to arresting, is more involved in the criminal world then you're giving her credit for," Rex growled staring Chin Ho down.
The man finally looked a little shaken. Asking about Rowan was the weakness, just like it was with McGarrett and Kalakaua, except in McGarrett's case it was the one thing that made that man explode. They knew something. They were hiding something. They were protecting someone. Rex had thought it was Chin, but now he had a different theory.
"Steven McGarrett vouched for her. Her attachment to Wo Fat is familial. She has no ties to any criminal organization. She's a goddamn song writer…"
"And yet she showed up at the bank, stole Gabriel Waincroft's money, and somehow took him down without having a weapon on her," Rex interrupted.
"Rowan knows things. Okay? She just knows. She's been doing it since we found her. Okay? Just knowing, just showing up. She helps. She saves lives, and she has never lied to us. So if she says Gabriel attacked her, that she wrestled the gun away from Gabriel, and somehow in the scuffle the money went missing and the gun went off then that's what happened," Chin Ho snapped.
Also exactly what the others had said. Maybe not word for word but close enough.
He knew then. He knew then that Rowan Pierce was the key.
"I think we're done here," he said to Chin Ho who was staring at him almost confused. "You can go."
Chin Ho stood up, he looked down at them with unfeeling eyes. "I wouldn't… if I were you… I really wouldn't," he warned.
"Wouldn't what?" Rex asked.
"I wouldn't threaten her," Chin Ho told him. "It's not just Steve that responds badly to that… that criminal we put away… yeah… he's very invested in her wellbeing. And unlike Steve, he's got no morals to stop him from doing anything… unsavoury…"
"Are you threatening me, Lieutenant Kelly?" Rex asked in a low voice.
"No, it's a warning," he said. "We have watched men far mightier than you fall to him in the name of Rowan's safety… Wo Fat doesn't play around when it comes to protecting his sister…"
He left after that. Left with those words hanging in the air. Rex Coughlin still turned to his partner and said: "Get Rowan Pierce in this office for questioning."
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Duke personally took her into HPD Headquarters. He was upset about this. Upset about having to parade Rowan in front of Steve and in to speak to the Internal Affair officers who demanded her arrest. He hadn't handcuffed her because Rowan had agreed to come quietly, that would help when Steve had his freak out.
They weren't through the door for less than two seconds before Steve's face whipped towards her. He was on his feet after taking three steps into the hallway and then he was coming towards them. Already Duke was stiff beside her.
"Duke… Ro… what's going on?" he asked.
"I'm sorry Steve they… they asked us to bring her in," he said.
"No. don't lie for them," Rowan snapped. "They called in a warrant for my arrest, Steve. They arrested me. What the hell did you people say to them?"
Steve straightened. "No, she's not going in there. Take her home," he ordered.
"Oh, she's coming in here," an Agent said appearing at the door.
"Rowan is none of your concern. She's not a cop," Steve growled, sweeping her behind him trying to edge her back and away.
"Neither are you, Commander," he snapped not intimidated by Steve's muscles or his threatening glare. "We're convinced that the missing piece is Miss. Pierce. She will be questioned and if she is found guilty she will be arrested and tried for her crimes, no matter who wants to protect her."
She could hear Steve's growling from where he was standing, she saw the coiled tension in his arms. He was going to make this worse and then they'd never get rid of IA. She darted out from behind him and put a hand to his chest.
"It's okay," she said to him. "Go sit down… I… I got this. Okay?"
Steve stared down at her. Just that look alone told her how much he believed that this situation was going to end in the okay bracket.
"Just… come on Steve. Have a little faith, okay?" she urged. "Go sit down, I'll be out in a few minutes."
Behind her the Agent laughed. "I highly doubt that," he scoffed.
Rowan turned to him with a fake cracking smile on her face. "Do you want him to punch you?" she asked. He just scoffed at her, grabbed her arm and jerked her into the room, slamming the door in Steve's face just as he started to protest.
"You're really rude, you know that?" Rowan snapped at him. "And I didn't give you permission to touch me so get your hands off me, sir. At no point was I resisting, nor am I resisting now. "
He removed his hand and took a step away from her. "Please sit down Miss Pierce," he ordered and she primly jutted her chin out and then walked over to the chair and carefully put herself into it.
"So, to what do I owe this displeasure?" she asked them almost absently as she stretched a hand out to the video camera beside her and both agents barked: "Don't touch that."
"Oh geeze… I'm sorry…" she said making sure to make a big show of pulling her hands away from the Camera. She didn't see any old school tapes. It was a digital recorder. A plan was already formulating in her mind.
"What is that?" the nicer quieter agent asked. Rowan followed his gaze, there, behind them was a shadow passing back and forth. Someone was pacing outside the door.
Rowan turned back to them with a smile on her face. "Sorry. Can you give me one second?" she asked. The gestured that it was okay and Rowan bolted back to the door. She threw it open and Steve came to a halt in front of her his eyes searching hers, worry wrinkling everything on his forehead.
Rowan reached up and grabbed his handsome face, smushing it between her hands. "For god sake, stop pacing!" she ordered. "You're freaking me out Steve. I can feel your nervous energy through door. Just please. Please go sit down and do the leg tapping thing you do. Please? Please Steve?"
"I don't do a leg tapping thing," he said though her hands were squishing his face. She pinned him with a dry look and he sighed. Grabbing a hold of her wrists he pulled his face out of her hands to say: "Fine. Call me if you need me. I don't care what they say or do. Just… call me okay?"
"Yes. I will, now just go sit down," she ordered and this time she didn't shut the door until she was certain that he was sitting. She then returned to the table and smiled sweetly at them. "Where were we?
"You were about to tell us about the money?" he ordered.
Rowan sat back in the chair and smiled at him. "What money?"
"The money in the bag. The money you took from Gabriel Waincroft…"
"That money didn't belong to him," Rowan said in a soft voice. She realized that that was not a good thing to say and added: "And I don't know where it went."
"I think you're lying," the meaner agent said leaning forward. "I think you took the money. I think you're working with someone, maybe not Gabriel, but someone, and you've given the money to them. The question is who did you do it for? Was it Chin Ho Kelly? Was it your precious McGarrett? Or that Criminal Brother of yours?"
Okay that was enough of this.
"Do you want to know what your fatal flaw was?" she asked, her voice low and dangerous as she leant across the table.
He smiled at her like he didn't care. "Answer the question Miss. Pierce."
"Answer mine and I'll answer yours."
"Fine, I'll humour you. What's my fatal flaw?" he said leaning back.
"You broadcasted a warrant for my arrest… on an open channel," she said, his eyes narrowed with confusion and his phone finally started to ring. God it took long enough. Rowan straightened and lounged back a smug smile donning her lips. "I'd get that if I were you. I think your boss wants to talk to you."
He picked up the phone and listened to the angry droning of his boss and as he did so Rowan turned her eyes to the camera that was still recording. She pulled on whatever anger she had, whatever electricity she pulled from Steve and did her best to contain it to the one hand. She put her hand to the tripod and heard the static hiss of the camera dying and then smiled.
Not seconds after that was there a sudden scuffle outside and the door banged open behind them. Rowan turned to where Steve was standing, one hand still on the handle his eyes wide with frantic panic staring her down, his chest heaving as if he were about to have a panic attack. Ah, he must have felt that.
"It's okay," she said to him. "I'm still here."
He just continued to stare at her, it was on the tip of his tongue to ask her what was happening, what she had done, but she couldn't let him do that. "Leave Steve, I'll be right out," she told him and then turned back the IA guys. "We're done right?"
The meaner one threw down his phone and scowled at her. "For now."
"Oh no, forever," Rowan said. "By this time next year Gabriel Waincroft is going to kill you in your own personal cabin. And no, that's not a threat. It's a free psychic vision for you and I'm never wrong."
She then got up and crossed to where Steve was waiting for her. She got on her very tippy toes, grabbed his face, holding it there between her hands and then kissed him solidly. Just like before, the kiss blew his senses, his hands came to her waist keeping her their, but his brain went right out of the window.
"Thank you for coming to my rescue but I'm still mad at you and I wanna go home," she said. She pried herself out of Steve's tight embrace and turned to where Kono was covertly taking photos for her. "Come on Kono. Let's go."
And just like that the IA decided to stop investigating Chin Ho.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Rowan had found Chin on the beach where he met Malia. He didn't ask her how she knew. He was just grateful for her presence.
"They'll leave you alone now," she had told him after a moment of silence. "I made sure of it. Rex Coughlin won't come anywhere near you. He won't even be IA for much longer. But I guess… I guess that doesn't really matter now." Chin sighed and Rowan lowered her eyes away from him. "Do you want me to tell you why he did it?"
She meant Gabriel. She was asking if Chin wanted to know why Gabriel killed his father.
"Is there a good reason?" he had asked her.
Her answer had been no and even though he knew she wasn't lying he asked for the reason anyway. Wrong place wrong time. His father had seen Gabriel's face. She was right. It wasn't a good reason.
By the time she got Chin back to his place the party was in full swing. She knew he wouldn't want this, not now, but it was to cheer him up and her Five-0 boys had such a hard time saying no to her. Kono, Adam, Danny and Grace, even Max and Sabrina, were all there. Kamekona and Grover were arguing in the kitchen about the food. Flipper was strumming a ukulele and beside him Jerry was swaying along. Duke and his wife were already on the couch drinking their coffee and talking to one another.
The only person missing was Steve.
Chin accepted all the love his friends had to offer. He took in their happiness and their excitement that IA had officially left. And as he did Rowan slid over to the kitchen to make herself a well needed tea.
Danny left Grace who was hugging Chin to come see her. "How you feeling, I heard… I heard they pulled you in."
Rowan nodded. "It's alright. The app picked up the call for my arrest. Wo dealt with it."
"Except he didn't… did he?" Danny asked. "Chin told me. Told me about him. It's all he told me… you know… that something happened to him…"
Rowan looked down, goddamn it, why did Chin have to tell Danny everything? "The app warned me about the call," she admitted. "I uh… I used the contacts on the app… found me a guy in a bad position. Kong made the actual call to him though… as I was… uh… detained by then."
"Guy in a bad position…"
"Director of IA… ain't so straight and narrow," Rowan told him. "Sort of helped me attain what I wanted."
Danny shook his head. "You got horse shoes up the ass," he muttered to her. "Never tell Steve, he'd die. Torn between turning you in and keeping you safe."
"Speaking of Steve… uh… where is he?" she asked softly, wanting off this topic something bad. "You guys invited him, right?"
"Of course we did," Danny said. When she pinned him with a stern stare, one with a cocked eyebrow that showed she didn't believe him Danny quickly added: "I swear, this time, I invited him. He's uh… he uh…"
"He's not coming… is he?" Rowan asked and Danny avoided her eyes.
"He had something come up, he's dealing with it. If he can he's gonna swing by."
Rowan tried not to be too disappointed. She was supposed to be mad at him after all. She knew she was being unreasonable. It was just a car. And she could easily buy another regular 1986 GTO and just have it painted pastel purple. It was just that… that was her car. She just knew it was. And if she hadn't been stillborn, she'd have been riding in that car with her brother, with her father, with her best friend. Rowan had thought that maybe… if she couldn't have her family and her friends, she might have the car. To make new memories in.
But having Chin go through this. Having that call about Wo Fat. She figured… well… there were worse things to be mad about instead of a car. Maybe she should have just told Steve that, but she had wanted him to suffer a little bit before she forgave him. After everything he had done she just wanted the boy to squirm for a bit.
Now he was avoiding her. Sort of her own fault, now wasn't it? She sighed again and then forced herself to smile. This party was for Chin, she was supposed to be happy for him and that was what she was going to do.
There was no point being sad over Steve McGarrett when there were other more pressing things in the world worth being sad about.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve knocked on the Governor's door, paper in shaking hand, ready to ask for the biggest personal favour he'd ever ask the Governor for.
"Come in!" came at him and he walked in.
Governor Dennings saw him, took in the apprehensive stare and the papers in his hands and sighed, "Oh god, what now?" he snapped. "If Rowan's done something, you're on your own and I mean seriously, don't include Five-0 and don't include me."
Steve stood there, surprised. He wasn't sure what to say to that. Because the request was about Rowan but he thought it was a good reason, a nice request.
"UH…."
"Oh god it is about her," Dennings growled. "What now? Did IA take her? Are you and her arguing again? What? What could be wrong now?"
"Nothing," Steve said quickly. "It's nothing… really. It's just that… well…"
"Spit it out Commander."
"I was hoping to get your help to buy Rowan's car," Steve admitted. That's right, rip it off like a band-aid. Dennings just stared at him surprised, like he didn't understand how it had come to this. "That raid on the chop shop… well the only reason I was there was cause Rowan took me to help her get a good deal on the car she wanted. It's uh… it's currently sitting on the HPD lot. Duke's already tried to contact the owners, but they're deceased with no next of kin. I was hoping that you'd uh… you'd sign off on me buying it."
Dennings reached out to him taking the paper from his hand and looking it over. "Wooo, that's a lot for a car in HPD lock up."
"It's uh… it's a 1986 Pontiac GTO. Worth three times more than what HPD wants," Steve said. "And well… her birthday's in a week and I was hoping to get it off the lot and get it ready to drive for her by then."
"Birthday huh?" Dennings mused. He looked back up to Steve who was angling just to get him to sign the paper but he was worried that maybe he wouldn't. "I can do one better."
He put the paper down, opened up a drawer and slamming down a check book. "Oh, uh… no, no you don't have to do that…"
"Nonsense, she's been a great asset… when you two actually get along," Dennings said. "Besides I know what you get paid and you can't afford this car. If a donation will keep you and Rowan happy, then a donation you will get."
Steve tried not to smile, he tried not to laugh with joy because he had been worrying about whether or not he'd be able to afford that car for her even if he convinced his friends to help him. When he accepted the check his eyes bulged at the amount on it. Holy hell.
"This is… this is…"
"Nothing compared to what that girl has done for you and Five-0… for free might I add," Dennings said to him. "And as I've already mentioned, I want things to remain smooth between you and Rowan."
"Thank you… just… wow… thank you," Steve said. "I'll uh… I'll keep you posted."
"You better," Dennings said. Steve rushed away from him but when he got to the door Dennings stopped him. "If there's a card I expect to sign it."
Steve just smiled. Now that was something he could do.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve rushed up to Chin's, up the driveway and into the house. He was late, he knew he was late, like he knew the party was over but he was still hoping that his friends were there. And he was in luck because when he banged into the house he found that his friends were all sitting together, like they might have been waiting for him.
Danny, Kono and Chin looked up from the couch where they were sitting with mugs of tea. "Steve… we uh… we didn't think that you were…"
"Rowan around?" he asked. He assumed she wasn't otherwise he would have spotted her, but he also could feel her near-by. A sort of pull that told him that she was there, that his body was inexplicably drawn to.
"She's in the washroom," Kono told him and he nodded. Alright so he had to be fast.
"Okay. I got an idea for her birthday present and I just… uh… I wanted you guys to help, maybe pool for it?" he offered.
Kono, Chin and Danny all exchanged glances before they shrugged and turned back to him. "I guess, it depends on what it is."
"Her car," Steve answered and then handed them the paper the Governor had signed for him.
Danny snatched it from his hand and together, Chin, Kono and Danny huddled together to look it over.
"Holy hell," Kono breathed out.
"27,000 for a Car, Steve… where are you gonna get that kind of cash?" Chin asked.
"From us," Danny snapped. "Asshole just said he wants us to help pitch."
"Yes, yes, I do. But I'm going to help pay too!" he complained. "Look, this is her car and she was devastated when it got taken away from her, which was… okay I'll admit it, it was my fault. I want to do this for her, is that so bad? I need the help. I need it off the lot tomorrow so I can get it to a mechanic to get it driveable by her birthday. Can you guys help me or not?"
"Steve?"
Steve turned, Rowan was in the hallway staring at him. Was is it just wishful thinking or was she actually happy to see him?
"You're late… the party's uh… the party's over," she said to him. "Uh… I can make you tea if you're going to stay… or get you a beer?"
"No… uh… I was just… say how much of that did you hear?" he asked her. God he hoped she didn't hear anything about the car. He wanted that to be a surprise.
"Hear what?" Rowan asked moving towards the kitchen.
Okay. Maybe she didn't hear anything at all. It was like Rowan to be oblivious to the world when she was off in her own head and he had a feeling if she heard him talking about a car, she would have asked immediately to know what he was talking about. He also had questions he wanted to ask Rowan, maybe he could ask them now while his friends deliberated on the whole helping him buy the car thing. Get her out of the place so they could talk it over.
"Hey uh… do you wanna go for a walk?" he asked her.
Rowan looked up from the tea she was pouring, probably for herself and scoffed. "I'm not a dog, Steven."
Huh… had she been spending time with Mary? Secret time with Mary cause Mary had left long before he and Rowan had half mended things between them. He wouldn't put it past his sister to do something like that to him.
"I know that… I just… I thought it might be nice to…" he trailed off.
"Yes, you two go for a walk," Danny said appearing beside him, baseball in hand. "Or, better yet, why don't you two toss this around she needs to work on her reflexes."
Steve took the ball and Rowan sighed. She took a gulp of her tea before putting it down on the counter again. "Okay, be we better be quick. I still need to clean this place up before I head out for the night."
Steve nodded waiting for Rowan to put on her shoes before slowly helping her out the back door like she needed the help. She didn't, she was much better since the day she got out of the hospital, but having his hand to her lower back to help her guide her, to keep her balanced and well, just to feel her, made him feel more like the gentleman.
He made sure they were on the sand a far away from the house before he started his interrogation. "I know you're not gonna like this, Ro… I know you're mad at me…"
"Yeah about that," Rowan said stopping where she stood and staring up at him. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you over a car. I mean… it's just a car."
"No… that car… it meant something to you, and you're right, I abused my power against you, I see how it would look unfair to suddenly decide to not do it for you, but I'm trying… I'm trying to be…"
"Better," Rowan finished for him and he nodded. "I'm sorry I put you in that position and I'm really sorry I slapped you… I was just so mad, I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have over reacted," she said to him. Steve just stared at her. He couldn't think of what else to say other then: "Thank you" because at no point did he deserve a girl as understanding as Rowan Pierce was being with him.
"Well thank you," he said. "But… uh… that's not what I wanted to talk about."
Rowan frowned. "Oh no… Steve… Steve… please…"
"I just… I just gotta know, Ro… you gotta tell me, what happened on that roof," he said.
"Please Steve… you're not gonna… please…" she said shifting away from him.
"Ro… I can't… I can't help you if you don't tell me," he said. He just wanted her to believe him. He wanted her to trust him with this.
"You'll be mad at me," she whispered looking down at her shoes.
"Okay… okay… so I'll try… to be calm, okay?" he said, he didn't want to promise her cause he wasn't sure what she was going to say.
"Wo got stabbed," Rowan admitted. Uh… what? The man was in solitary how the hell did he get stabbed? "He got shanked and… well… when I talked to him he was frantic. Said the Oyabun was after me."
"Sato? Sato's after you… why didn't you call me?" he asked.
Rowan winced. "Because that wouldn't fix it. They were supposed to kill him the first time. Me going to you wouldn't save him from a second attempt. So I… well… I asked what had to be done so he'd forgive us."
It suddenly all started make sense. Why she had done it. But it didn't explain how. "There really were two men on the roof with you. You gave the money to the Yakuza."
"Yes… it was the deal. But uh… I didn't wanna do it with Wo's money and Gabriel… Gabriel's a bad man. I wanted him to admit that he killed Chin's father. I wanted him to suffer."
"And Chin saw. Didn't he? Chin saw and he covered for you."
Rowan nodded and Steve let out his breath. "Goddamn it, Rowan… you could have… you could have cost Chin his job."
"I was gonna come clean!" Rowan cried. "I was. But then Chin said I'd go to jail… and I can't go to jail. We think I'm a psychopath now! Jail would have brought it right out of me, and then what? How would I help you guys with cases from Jail? Huh? How?"
Steve groaned at her. She had a point. He didn't want her to go to jail any more than Chin did. But that didn't make it right.
"Are… are you gonna arrest me now?"
Steve put his hands on his hips and looked down at her. No he wasn't. He wasn't going to arrest her ever again. "Answer one more question."
Rowan shrugged. "Sure, shoot."
"Did you try to void yourself out of that interrogation?"
Rowan half smiled. She took the ball from him and took a few steps back, pitching it to him underhand. He caught it with ease and copied her pitch, soft and underhand. Rowan surprisingly caught it and then grinned at him.
"No I was not trying to travel. But I was pulling from the void," she said.
"Why?"
"So many questions, Steven," she chided.
"I can't help my curious nature," he answered catching her next toss and then carefully tossing it back. "Humour me."
"Fine… but this is the last one," she said to him as she tossed back the ball. "I wanted to hurt them."
"You electrocuted one of them?" he asked tossing it back.
Rowan caught it, the ball fumbling out of her finger tips when she couldn't enclose her fingers around it quick enough. She stooped down to pick it up and then looked at Steve. "No, not them. I uh… I pulled from the void for electricity to shock their camera. It's digital. I'm pretty sure, or at least I hope I'm sure, that I just destroyed all of their interrogations. Of you, and Chin and Kono. And me."
She tossed the ball back and Steve caught it easily. "That just means they have to come back."
"Maybe. But Coughlin won't," Rowan said. "It was part of the deal. He's getting fired or transferred or whatever. Not only does it save his life but it saves Chin a fuck tonne of future trouble too."
"You gotta stop doing that," Steve said. "You gotta stop putting yourself on the line for us. You're not… I can't… none of us can save you if you go too far. Okay? Not even Wo Fat."
Rowan nodded but he didn't believe her. She was just saying that to mollify him. She didn't mean it at all. "Alright, this one's gonna be a fast one, you ready?"
She nodded, hands out ready to catch but she wasn't ready. He had pitched that one, lobbed it over hand but it was too fast and Rowan's reflexes were too slow. As a result, the ball hit her square between the eyes.
And then she dropped to the sand.
"Oh Shhhh…. Ro, Rowan?!" he cried rushing towards her. He slid to a stop sand kicking up around her which did not help the situation at all. "Oh God, Rowan, Rowan. I'm so sorry I thought you'd catch it."
Rowan just groaned and rolled away from him her hands to her face. There came a flurry of voices and then Chin, Danny and Kono were around them, Danny practically shoved him away from her.
"Steve… what the hell?" Chin cried. "You knew she was working on her reflexes, why the hell would you think she could catch that?"
Steve's heart lurched. For starters, if they saw the pitch his friends were watching them, probably listening in. Lovely. Secondly… well when he put it like that, yeah he definitely should have known better. He felt terrible but he hadn't done it maliciously. He stuttered out an apology, no one was listening to him.
"Rowan, can you hear me?" Chin asked. His hands had framed her face and was trying to make her look at him but she wouldn't open her eyes past a squint and she wouldn't answer their questions.
"She's not concussed again, is she?" Danny asked and Steve felt the air leave his body. No… and she had just started getting better.
Rowan groaned loudly at them all. "No, no doctors or hospitals. I'm fine. I swear."
"We're gonna have to double check," Chin told them ignoring Rowan completely. She groaned a terrible haunting: noooo. But she was still ignored.
"I can take her," Steve breathed out. "You guys can think… about… it…"
"Do you think it's best that he take her?" Kono asked the other softly.
Steve bristled at that. He could be responsible, they could trust him. Rowan lurched to her side, grabbing onto his cargo pants. "Please don't leave me," she whispered to him. "Can you stay? Can you stay please?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Steve, and Rowan's grip on him. "Well I guess that answers that," Chin said to them.
"You sure you can handle her?" Danny asked. Steve nodded scooping her up into his arms, right where she belonged. She snuggled into him and in response his grip tightened around her. "Kay well that answers that too."
"And by the way. We agreed, all of us. We put more feelers out to see who else is interested in splitting, easier to split it between many than just us four," Chin whispered causing Steve to grin.
"What are you talking about?" Rowan groaned against Steve's chest. "Is it Pizza? Can I be cut into the pizza deal too? I want two slices. Meat lover's pizza please, but I'll take a plain pepperoni. If y'all put pineapple or spam on my pizza you're dead to me."
"Sure thing, kid," Danny said to her and then turned back to Steve. "We'll text you about it tomorrow."
Steve just nodded, happy at the turn of events. Happy that for once, Rowan was going to get exactly what she deserved.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
The world was fuzzy and painful when he finally became aware of his surroundings. He was in the infirmary. Hand chained to the bed railing, fire in his belly like he had swallowed a peck of pickled Peruvian peppers, his head pounding like a jackhammer was at work on his temples. There was a lingering sense of urgency but he couldn't remember what it was about.
"Why, hello, Mr. Fat," a nurse said, a pretty little red-headed thing that would have reminded him of Rowan if she wasn't dusted with freckles and her auburn hair wasn't a mop of unruly ringlets. Also her eyes were the color of uninspired mud.
"What happened?" he slurred.
"Well you had a bit of an accident," she said in the most patronizing of tones.
Yes, cause he was shanked by accident. Just slipped and fell on his own handmade knife. "You actually woke up right on time," she said, handing him over the phone. "Someone just called for you. And Mr. Oya Bun? Says he's a friend of yours."
Wo Fat looked at the phone like it was a poisonous viper. That rat fucking bastard. He picked up the phone and put it to his ear.
"You got some nerve," he growled. "Calling me like you didn't put me here."
"Calm yourself… Fat… I'm just calling to clear the air," he said.
A flash of memory overcame his senses and suddenly Wo Fat was livid. "You threatened Rowan," he whispered. "That was where he said you were going next. I swear to god if you've…"
"Will you calm down, you and me are square," Sato said to him.
"What have you done?" Wo Fat breathed out. "What did you do… if she's…. if you've…"
"For god's sake man, she's fine," Sato growled. "If you'd let me finish, I could tell you what happened." Wo Fat stayed quiet and Sato continued talking. "Your girl came through, Fat. You're lucky. 18.5 million dollars in the bank, handed over by your little terror. You'd be proud of her. Your girl. Brokered a deal, got a man shot in the process, and didn't even bat a single eyelash."
Wo Fat just sat there taking that in. She. Did. WHAT? "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" he stuttered. "She did… how did she do any of that?"
"Don't know, you'll have to talk to your girl about the specifics," Sato said to him. "I just took the money."
"Fine, then tell me one thing," Wo said. "Why now? What pissed you off now?"
"Are you surprised?" Sato asked. "Teaming up with a Mexican drug cartel, giving them info to jack me and my men and you're surprised that I retaliated?"
"Mexican drug…" Wo Fat echoed. "I'm in a Colorado prison and you think I'm helping a Mexican drug cartel? Have you had a stroke and lost all your faculties?"
"Well maybe you needed money to finance your "protect my girlfriend" fund," Sato said.
"She's not my girlfriend," Wo Fat growled. No she was so much more precious than that.
"Well whatever she is. I don't care why you did it, but I couldn't let it stand," Sato snapped.
"Then you've been taken… old man," Wo Fat told him with a half scoff. "I haven't been working with anyone. I haven't given anyone intel on your movements and that includes Rowan. But I'll tell you this… Sato. We're not even. We're not square. You better watch your back, old man. Cause now I'm coming for it."
He hung up the phone and then just sat there. He didn't know what to do. Didn't know what he was going to do. But he knew one thing.
He had to talk to Rowan.
