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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: So there we go, you guys seemed to really like how that ended. I worked hard on it, can you tell? Well, Steve is safe, and he is going to have his own personal nurse, but the question is now, is Rowan safe? For the guest who asked, I did actually do some research and yes, it is an actual law. Stowing away on US naval/army planes comes with a five-year sentence at the Maximum. So we'll see how Rowan ducks that. Don't forget that the 700th reviewer gets to pick the costume that Rowan and Steve wear in the season 5 Halloween episode, which I am almost through writing, so don't forget to review.

Also, do you guys like this three updates a week I've got going on? Cause I have more than enough written to keep that going for the month of June at the very least… maybe even for the rest of the year. What do you think? Review and let me know!

Chapter 118

Steve's vision was hazy. But he knew he was safe. He knew a medical tent when he saw one, make shift and temporary. He was on a mobile base somewhere in Afghanistan. But he was safe and alive.

"Hey."

Danny?

Steve turned towards the sound of his friend's voice absolutely shocked that he was there, but even with the hazy vision from a half-swollen eye he could tell it was Danny.

"Yeah, I'm right here. You alright?"

No he was not. He wanted Rowan, he wanted to feel her against him, he wanted her cool hands all over his feverish aching body.

"Is Catherine okay?" he asked instead. He didn't know what happened to her. He assumed she got away but he didn't know where she was. Whether or not she got Najib.

"Uh, yeah. I spoke to her when she called me about you, and we got disconnected. I tried her back a couple of times but it didn't go through," Danny said. He must have noted the panic on his face because he added: "Ro says she's fine. She's gonna go on a crusade to find the kid, but she'll be fine."

Then she hadn't found Najib. He saved some kids though, maybe not the one they were looking for but he'd take saving some lives over none.

Something shifted against his bed that wasn't him and Steve froze. Because he had felt it. A brush of something soft against his arm. He glanced down, he knew Rowan's hair anywhere, and there she was. Her head lying against her arms, fully asleep.

"What… but… how?"

"Rowan woke me up and had me get Joe White up before Catherine even called. She had us on the plane before we even knew where they were taking you," Danny tells him.

"You let her come to Afghanistan? Are you out of your mind?"

Danny's mouth dropped open to argue but Steve's loud outburst had woken Rowan up. She bolted up her eyes crinkled with sleep shouting: "They let me out!"

Danny smacked her and Rowan groaned. "There's no one here you dolt and they already know you're out."

Rowan merely groaned again and put her hands to her face to rub her eyes. Then there was the clink of metal against metal and when Steve actually focused on Rowan he saw a pair of familiar bracelets chaining the wrists together.

"What the hell is that?" he asked her, which turned her eyes towards him. She went from sleepy to awake in no seconds flat.

There was a sudden flurry of oh my gods and babys coupled with soft pecks from her lips all over his face. He wanted nothing more than to tug her to him and kiss her solidly but everything still hurt so he wasn't going to do that… yet.

Plus he had something more important to deal with at that moment.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, cause believe me babe, I am, but uh… why are you handcuffed?" he asked. Rowan sat back down, blinking her eyes at him before turning to Danny who just stared at her. The two of them sharing a moment where they just spoke to each other with facial expressions. This went on for too long before Steve stopped it. "Someone better tell me why she's in fucking handcuffs!"

"Uh… probably because I'm technically under arrest," Rowan answered. Steve's jaw dropped as he stared at her. She was what?! "Uh… I stowed away on a Military plane so they uh… they kind of arrested me over it."

Steve turned to Danny who shrugged and Rowan said: "Joe's working on… uh… on getting me out of that."

Danny suddenly straightened. "The CIA spook is back," he said to them and Steve turned. Through blurry vision he could make out the CIA spook in plain clothes and a man in army fatigues. Probably the captain of the base.

The Captain looked at them all with disdain.

"You're gonna need to step outside, and you," he growled turning on Rowan who was ramrod straight in her seat. Steve's good hand went to her leg, needing to touch her to know she was okay. "You're supposed to be in the brig."

Like hell she was.

Rowan raised her hands. "I'm handcuffed, doesn't that count?" just as Danny said: "Uh… I'm not a soldier, so you have no jurisdiction over me. I will be staying… right… here."

Danny was completely ignored.

"Considering your surprising ability to get in and out of locked cells and handcuffs, no it does not."

"Okay fair, but I'll be a lot less trouble if you just let me stay here," she said. "Seriously. I'm just going to keep breaking out to get back here."

Steve winced. "I uh… it's true, honestly, it'd just be easier…"

The CIA spook glared at them all. He was done with this conversation, clearly, because he swept onto the topic of his visit.

"I'm going to make this easy Commander. We know you weren't over here alone, so unless you wanna spend the next ten years in prison you need to tell me who else was involved and how you got your Intel."

"I told you," Rowan said. "Me. He got it from me. Just like they got all their intel on finding him from me."

"I refused to believe that a psychic predicted all of this," the CIA practically shouted.

Rowan opened her mouth again, but Steve put a hand out to stop her, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. She had done enough to save him. It was his turn to step up. "You know, Hassan's boys, they knocked me around pretty good. My short-term memory's a little foggy. I'm sorry."

The CIA guy glared at him. "Let me ask you something. Who the hell do you think you are, huh? Because once you leave those little islands of yours, you're a civilian and your girl… she becomes a criminal. Now I want a name and the source of your intel, now."

"Oh, enough of this," Rowan snapped and then dug into her pocket. Her phone in her hand as she muttered to herself. "Criminal, huh? I'll show you, criminal."

Oh god. No. No, don't do it. Not now.

But Steve couldn't get the words out fast enough and Rowan was reading off what she had, "Leon Chase. CIA. Two kids, two different wives. Penchant for gambling. Prefers the ponies."

Chase backed away from her. Rowan turned that glittering smile back up to him and then showed him a screen where a big glaring accept was waiting for her to push it. "I press that button and your debt collectors are gonna come knocking. Starting on wife-y number one's door. That would be daughter number one. She's what, sixteen now? I bet she's pretty."

Chase took another step back.

"He may be a civilian, but my criminal network goes where I go. So I highly suggest you run far, and you run fast," Rowan snapped. "Right now, asswipe."

The captain of the Naval base, a nicer man named Stan Norrell stared at them both. "How did you get your phone out of my office?"

"I got out of a locked cell. Getting my phone out of your desk drawer was nothing," Rowan said. "And besides, I had to disengage the alert on my phone. As I mentioned before, if it stayed up, he'd send people to the phone's location."

"He has no ties in Afghanistan. He knows no one. There is no one for your brother to send to save you," Norrell snapped and Rowan looked away from him.

"Well I'm sorry… but I didn't want to chance it."

"Okay, alright, listen up. Today you're getting a pass," he announced to them. "But these rogue ops of yours are over. Speaking on behalf of the entire US Military you ever set foot in this part of the world again and you are gonna be in it up to your neck. I don't care what you did in the service, I will personally throw you in the brig."

"Fair. I'm down to go home," Rowan said. "And I can safely say that I will never want to come back here… so…"

"No. Not you," Norrell snapped. "You've already been sentenced. Five years. Naval lock up."

Steve's heart ran cold. Rowan narrowed her eyes at him. "Really? After what you saw me do with my phone? Cause I mean… I just have to type your name in," she whispered looking down to her phone. "There's no telling what I'll find if I put your name in."

Norrell just rolled his eyes. Steve shook his head. "You don't understand what he'll do. I can assure you that if you let her come home with me, I will set her up with mandated Naval community service. Just you know… off base cause she gets into trouble real fast, and the farther away from guns, ammunition, bombs and tanks she is the better."

"Oh, yes, I like that idea…" she said with a big grin on her face.

"Community service huh?" he echoed. "Fine. You want to do some community service?" Rowan nodded eagerly. "Since you're so good at getting in and out of places, I've got just the op to send you on."

"I'm sorry, op? Did he say op?" Rowan echoed. Steve nodded. Yes, yes he did say op. Who the hell would want to send her on an op? "You want to send me… a wise cracking petty thief… on an op? Are you out of your goddamn mind? I'm gonna get shot immediately… probably by myself! That'll be a new one. Friendly fire, except its accidental friendly-shot-yourself-fire!"

"You're not going to have a gun…" "Great, you're gonna send me on an op without a gun." "You're going to retrieve Intel, that's all. A petty thief can handle that can't she?"

"You don't understand…"

"Oh, I do understand. It's this or jail time, what do you want?" Norrell asked.

"Well I mean… fine," Rowan said in a huff throwing up her hands in frustration. "But I'm keeping my phone. I'm expecting him to call and this time I better answer."

Norrell wasn't having that though, because he snatched the phone out of her hands, but he did, at least, uncuff her, as soon as he and the CIA guy were gone Rowan slouched in her chair. "He's going to fucking kill me when I finally get a hold of him."

"He's mad?" Steve asked because he still couldn't wrap his head around Rowan going on an op somewhere in Afghanistan without him.

"I missed 85 phone calls between me getting thrown in the brig and me getting out again… which was maybe… two hours?" she asked Danny who nodded for her. "Yeah about two hours. I'm sure that my arrest got broadcasted, which means he's knows I'm in Afghanistan and he knows I'm in trouble and despite my bluffing he has no people in Afghanistan and I know this. And to top things off I'm not picking up, which mean's I'm making him feel things that he's not comfortable with… so yeah… I'm in a lot of trouble when I finally get a hold of him."

When she looked up again Steve was staring at her. He couldn't help it, he still couldn't believe that either of them where there. "What? What is it?"

"I just can't believe you're here. Danny… you flew all the way here… and you… you fucking idiot… you stowed away on a plane?"

"Danny wouldn't let me come," Rowan said with a pout. She stood up, sliding into the bed beside him. Resting her head against his good shoulder, tucking into his side where she belonged. Just the act of her snuggling into his side had his eyes lowering, suddenly sleepy. God he only slept truly and deeply well when he had her beside him.

"I needed to make sure you were okay. You would have done the same if it were me."

True. Except he would have been the one bursting in through that door to that dusty compound if Rowan had been taken. Thankfully Rowan hadn't been that eager to get to him. He might have had a heart attack if it had been her that burst through that door.

"I second that, I too wanted to make sure that you were okay. Plus you owe me 500 dollars from that poker game."

"Mmmm true, and you owe me a grand," Rowan added snuggling a little closer to him. "I'm not hurting you am I?"

He wouldn't have told her even if she was. He angled his head downward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "No babe, please just… just for a little while. I just need to know that you're with me."

Rowan lifted her head to his, those lips milometers from his. "Don't you worry. I'm not going anywhere."

His eyes fell shut again and his good arm tightened reflexively around her. "Thank you guys, thank you for being here," he whispered to them, not sure if they even heard him.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

They had brought Steve in on the helicopter and Danny and Rowan had gone to meet him. He was unconscious, he was badly beaten, but he had his head. Rowan put a hand to his shoulder, just to touch him to make sure it was real and a smile crept up on his sleeping face.

She knew then that he knew she was there. Even if he wasn't consciously aware of it.

Weird things had happened before the command center confirmed they had Steven. It was like Rowan had felt his fear, had felt that debilitating electric current coursing through her at someone else's command. Her chest squeezing tightly, stealing the air right out of her lungs. Was that what Steve felt like every time she messed with the void?

She had screamed, Danny said. She had screamed a name, but it hadn't been Steve's… she had screamed her own name, her voice deep and gruff like it hadn't been her talking. Rowan had no idea what happened, or how it happened, but she had a feeling that whatever had happened, it was because Steve was so desperate to see her one last time, so desperate to survive that he pulled the void to him.

She had prayed that it worked, and the void had done as she asked… which was to protect him.

And it had.

Steve had been returned to her. Maybe not in the same condition he had left in, but he was in one piece, he was alive and they would be going home soon.

If she survived this goddamn op.

Captain Norrell had practically ripped her from Steve's side that morning and dragged her away. To brief her, he said, but he wouldn't let Danny come with her and Steve was panicking. She was trying to be brave, Steve was injured, he couldn't help her, and her relying on him would make this harder for them both. She wanted him to rest and relax, he wouldn't be able to do it if she stressed him out about this. They had taken her phone ages ago, she really just wanted it back.

Today, today she was going to learn what they wanted her to do for her community service.

She was sat down at a table that had little plastic replica buildings and little soldier men standing around in strange formations. There were maps all over the walls, with pictures of aerial shots of a building and head shots of people she didn't know but must have been important to them.

She was handed a single headshot of a man in a turban attached to a file where everything seemed to be blacked out. His dark beard was defining his jaw, he had a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Meet Marik Gholam, the owner of the Ziarat night club. It's a night club just outside of the Pakistan border. He's a bit of a wanna be Rock star who's running supplies to the Taliban out of his club," Norrell told her.

"What kind of supplies?"

"Anything really, guns, ammo, bombs, food, everything goes through him and then it spreads out to all the different factions all over the hills."

Rowan nodded. "Right so he's like a one-stop-shop service center for anyone who wants to fuck shit up?"

"Exactly."

"Okay, great, and you want me to…?"

"He's recently come into some… information… that doesn't belong to him, that could be quite hurtful to our troops, particularly the ones in we have out in the field."

Rowan blinked her eyes. "You want me to infiltrate his club and steal back the data?" Norrell got half a nod before Rowan threw the papers up in the air and shouted: "Are you out of your damn minds?! I'm not a fucking spy! I'm a songwriter…"

"You managed to sneak onto our plane rather well much like a spy…"

"Okay, firstly, that was a matter of life and death for someone I really care a lot about, and secondly your security is stupidly easy to get past."

Norrell took that in, stared at her for a moment and said. "Well this too is life and death, except it's your life on the line this time."

"Well that doesn't matter, I don't care about my life."

When silence met that comment, Rowan looked up to the men in the room. They were all staring at her completely surprised. It was often that Rowan said things like that without realizing it. She lowered her eyes again and looked down to the 3D map in front of her with all the soldiers and tanks.

Norrell cleared his throat and glanced down to the map as well. "We're obviously not going to send you in without assistance. There will be a team going with you, and we're going to have someone go into the actually building with you. We've come up with a plan, to get you two in."

"At night?" Rowan asked. "At a busy club? Where all the security is going to be ready to go at a moment's notice? Doesn't seem smart."

"And how would you do it then?"

"During the day. Less traffic, easier to slip in and out unnoticed."

"And if you get caught?"

"Come up with a quick, easy, convenient lie."

"Like what?"

"Uh… I unno, I guess I'll come up with something as the need arises," she whispered. She swallowed whatever fear she had. "So we're going to Ziarat and where are we?" Rowan asked.

"Jalalabad."

"You just made that up, didn't you?" He pointed to a spot on the map that stated the name of the town their base was in. "Ah. Never mind. Is it far from here?"

"Only a few hours."

"Oh, wonderful, do you have… do you have a plan? For like… getting me out if something happens?" she asked.

Norrell nodded and then pointed to a bulky blonde soldier standing beside him. "Rogers is going with you, he'll get you out."

"Rogers?" Rowan echoed. "Great I've got two Captain America's now. When are we going to leave?"

"We're going to iron out the data and the plan is still in formation. We will be briefing you on what you'll be looking for, and your entrance and exit strategies will all be solid by then."

"Yes, but when is then?"

"Tomorrow."

Holy crap balls Captain America.

Norrell smiled at her again. "You'll be fine. Just do what you did to get yourself here and you'll be perfectly fine."

Did this man not realize that none of her plans went the way they were supposed to? And she had insider knowledge of what was going to happen next. How was this going to go when she didn't know what was going to come at her.

Rowan looked down at the little plastic representations of herself and the team of soldiers going with her. Suddenly more afraid than she had ever been in her life. And that included when she crashed her own car to save her brother.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan had been taken from him and he was immediately anxious. It was the panic in her eyes, a fear he couldn't soothe for her. He had wanted to move, had almost gotten himself up, but the pain meds kept him fuzzy and Danny kept him down.

Somehow, despite being worried about her, and wanting to stay awake until she could come back to him, he had fallen asleep. He suspected Danny with the morphine button had been behind that, but when he woke up again, it was because he had become aware of her curled up beside him.

His eyes opened, found her snuggled into his side, and saw that Danny wasn't sitting beside him. Steve wasn't upset about that, Danny couldn't sit by him 24/7 and he did want some alone time with Rowan. He wanted nothing more than to hold her tightly to grip her with both arms and keep her from this mission they wanted her on. If he thought he could safely sneak her out of that compound he would have by now but he… he was too injured to help her.

He had asked Danny to help him but Danny had refused. Steve wasn't good enough, he said. So, leave him behind. It made sense. What mattered was Rowan, Rowan and getting her to safety, but Danny wouldn't leave Steve behind to deal with that punishment by himself, and Danny knew that Rowan wouldn't leave without Steve, no point arguing about it. It just wasn't going to happen.

Steve looked back down to Rowan and suddenly her eyes were turned up to him.

"Am I hurting you?"

She was never hurting him. Even when it did hurt, even when he should have asked her to get off, he didn't care, he wanted her there with him.

"What did they say? Where are they sending you?"

"Some place called Ziarat," she whispered.

"The nightclub?"

"That's the place."

Steve's heart rate kicked up. "That's a Taliban hub, Ro, why are the hell are they sending you there?"

"They need me to steal back some data that the club owner stole or something," she answered, purposely avoiding his eyes, her fingers tracing patterns across his shirt. He'd be distracted if he wasn't so goddamn worried.

"They're going to send you into that place alone?"

"Nope, I'm getting some big burly blonde guy named Rogers…" "Calvin Rogers?" "I unno his first name, I call him Captain America."

Steve found himself frowning. "You call me Captain America." When she turned her eyes up to him surprised he just glared at her. "You may not say it to my face but I've heard you talk to Wo about me."

She hid her smile in his shoulder and that arm he wrapped around her shoulders tightened instinctively.

"You're the only Captain America for me, but since you're going to have to sit this one out… maybe it'll be okay for me to have a replacement… just this once?"

Steve sighed. She had a point. He couldn't go with her no matter how much he wanted to go with her.

"And their entrance and exit strategy?"

"I don't know yet… they… they haven't told me… I'm not sure if they have one yet…"

"They don't… Rowan!"

"Well I don't know!" she cried, sitting up and turning away from him. Not fair, Steve couldn't sit up after her, but his hand on her back was trying to use her shirt to tug her back down and failing. "They had this plan to send me in with Rogers' as a couple at night but that's the worst time to send me, so now they're looking into how to get me in during the day…"

"And they're sending you in…" "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow?!" "That's what I said…"

Steve's chest began to constrict this wasn't good. Not even in the least.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, can we talk about something else?"

Steve reached out, his hand grabbing the back of her shirt of tugging her back down to him. He settled on his good side, and held her down beside him.

"I have something important to tell you," he whispered into her hair. Rowan tilted her head back up to look at him, blinking her eyes at him. "Are you ready?"

Rowan nodded and he smiled. "When I woke up, my vision, it was all cloudy and blurry. And you, you got up and you were kissing me all over. The way the light hit you, god I thought you were an angel." She just looked at him like she didn't get it. "And I want you to remember that. Whenever you think you're monstrous, or I do something stupid and you think that's what I think. I want you to remember that you're my guardian angel, my saving grace and the face I want to see every time I wake up. Okay?"

Rowan smiled at him, her eyes getting misty. She burrowed into his chest to hide the emotion but it was too late, he saw it. He smiled into her hair, hoping she held onto that, that she never forgot that he thought she was perfect, and divine. A gift from god meant to heal his broken damaged heart.

He cleared his throat to get her attention. "Uh… I also had a question."

"Yeah?"

"Did anything happen while you were waiting for me?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Something weird happened to me… Rowan… something void like…"

"Oh, that. Yeah… uh… I know, I felt that too," she admitted. "But uh… I don't think it was me. I mean, not really. I felt it, your fear, that absolute terror. I could feel it climbing up my throat… this sort of… cry. I don't think it was just mine though, you know? I think… in that moment… I think it was yours."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I didn't scream your name… I screamed mine."

That was right. That was what he had wanted. All he wanted at that moment. He was about to die and the only thing he had wanted was Rowan. He wanted to see her one more time. He had thought about the void and all those times she had pulled on it to save others and maybe subconsciously he wanted her to use it to save him. And it had.

"You wanted me didn't you? You wanted me so bad you called for me," she asked and he nodded. "Well… I think… I think you wanted me so badly and I was so desperate to save you that a bit of me went to you, through the void… to… to protect you…" she lowered her eyes again. "It's kind of silly but I just envisioned that I had wrapped you up to protect you and put this big huge bubble around us. To keep them from you."

Steve half laughed, he hadn't seen it but it felt an awful lot like that was what happened.

"Well you did a damn good job," he said with a shaky laugh and Rowan let out a few shaky laughs.

"Did I?"

"Hell yeah, stopped the sword and threw everyone in the room a few feet back from me," he replied. "I uh… I didn't know I could pull from you…"

"It makes sense, you were the only one who could pull me out of the void in the first place. And you've always felt it when I tried to travel or use the powers from it. It would make sense then that you would also be able to tap into that same power when necessary."

Steve nodded again his good hand running circles up and down her arm. "Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know but I think it has something to do with all those red strings."

"Red strings?"

"Don't act stupid I know you've seen them. They tangle us up whenever we go anywhere near the void," Rowan said. "They connect me to you, and you to me. I think they're why you can feel it when I use the void. And I think those strings are how the energy went from me to you."

"We're connected," he whispered and Rowan nodded again. There was something about that. Knowing that he had a cosmic link to her, that made his chest swell with happiness only to have the reality of their present situation crash down on him and then his chest was tight with worry again.

He pulled her to him, rested his forehead against hers and just held her tightly. Those two words running circles in his head.

We're connected.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

So. The plan is to have Rowan and Rogers walk up to the front and ask for water. Once inside, Rogers will distract, Rowan will let herself into Gholam's office, retrieve the USB with the file, and the two will be kicked out. If things escalate we will have a team outside ready to move in. In the case of heavy firepower, Rogers has been told to take Rowan out the back and then around. Easy.

No. No. Not easy.

Steve had dragged Rowan out of that briefing tent, practically shaking. That could have been because the only reason he was standing on his own two feet was due to a large amount of pain meds and pure will power, but he was inclined to believe that it was fear keeping him up, fear and a need to get Rowan away from these crazy people.

He tugged her back to the medic tent, with Danny in tow, trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working. It wasn't working because that plan was the shittiest thing he had ever seen and at no point was he going to let Rowan go into that building without him.

Rowan pulled him to a stop, already he could hear Norrell behind them, calling for him to bring her back. She turned to Danny and Joe quickly. "Can you just hold them off, please? Just for a few moments…"

They both nodded and turned to act as gatekeepers and when she turned back to him, he felt that fear climb up his throat again. "I can't… I can't let you go in there… not without me… not with me here… not with that plan. Rowan… please… I'm not… if something were to happen to you… I wouldn't be… I couldn't… I'm just not strong enough."

Rowan put a hand to his chest, he saw the fear in her eyes and his heart broke a little more. "I need you to tell me it's going to be okay," she pleaded. "I'm scared Steve. I'm utterly terrified and if you… if you're scared too… I'm going to be even more worried and then something really will happen. So, can you… for both of us… can you just tell me it's going to be okay?"

She was right, of course. One of them needed to be strong. He could do that. He could do it for her. It was the least he could do as it was his fault they were in this situation. Had he listened to her, if he had picked her back when she asked him to, they wouldn't be here right now. He nodded his head to her, donned a serious but encouraging smile and whispered: "It's going to be alright."

With his good arm he pulled her shaking form to him, letting her cling to him. "You're going to be brilliant. I know you will. Just like you have been through every other hostage situation and shooting and… well… everything else. You are going to be just fine and as soon as this is over we're gonna go home and go to Rainbows and have pancakes and forget all about this."

Rowan smiled up to him, tears were leaking out of her eyes, his own jaw was trembling. He blamed the heavy pain meds he was on, yeah they were the only reason he was standing at that moment, but he was pretty sure that they were the reason he was about to cry due to worry and fear.

She pulled out her phone and Steve half laughed. That had been confiscated from her. He watched it happen. How had she got it back from Norrell? She looked it over briefly as if contemplating using it herself, right then and there but she ultimately decided to handed it to him. "Here. I want you to hold onto this… you know… just in case."

Steve let go of her to take it. "I… I won't need it, Ro," he whispered.

Rowan shook her head and refused to take it back from him. "Just… just in case," she whispered.

Behind them Norrell cleared his throat. Well clearly Danny and Joe couldn't hold him back for very long. He looked at them both carefully before saying: "It's time to roll out kid."

Steve reflexively put a hand to her arm. To hold her. A cry of panic clawed up his throat running it ragged. Rowan hugged him again, kissed him one last time and asked: "I'll be alright, right?"

Norrell grabbed her to pull her away and as she went he called out: "You'll be fine. I'll see you in a few hours!"

His heart hurt, his body tight with anxiety and anticipation, coiled and ready wanting nothing more than to rush back to her and bring her back to him. He needed to believe his words as much as she needed to. She was going to come back to him. There was literally no other option.