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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Guys… Guys… I forgot to update today! I'm so sorry! It's been a wild week, in the sense that I've got a lot of work, and volunteer hours and summer classes that are all coming together at once to swamp me. So we're here. We're at 150 chapters and I think I picked a pretty cute one for the 150. Not going to lie, this one's a little shorter but it's got a stellar ending… okay… sort of… there's a real gruesome part. But over all it's adorable. Don't forget to tell me what you think and I'll see you guys on Monday!

Chapter 150

Steve had been struggling with this. Struggling with his Aunt Deb just jumping into this whole marriage business without thinking it through. He wanted her to be happy, of course, but Leonard made him nervous. There was something off about him and after running a background check he figured out what it was.

Leonard Cassano was a lawyer for a mob family who had gotten rid of evidence for his client. This guy couldn't marry his innocent Aunt Deb, not when he was lying about who he was to her.

So that morning, after waking up Rowan to make sure she was still breathing, after being late to the Palace in favour of fucking his girl senseless before heading out to work and once he got confirmation about Leonard, Steven called his Aunt and asked her to meet up. And he actual took time off his case to meet her. Here's hoping she didn't tell Rowan cause he rarely took time off work for her and he had a feeling she would bring that up in every argument they had if she knew.

He met his Aunt at Kamekona's shrimp truck here Kamekona was trying to feed her a shrimp casserole. He sat down at the picnic bench, and tried to smile, but honestly he wasn't looking forward to this.

"Hi," he said quickly.

Deb frowned at him, a hand reaching out to hold his. "Is everything okay? You sounded pretty serious on the phone."

"Well I didn't mean to worry you, Deb, but it is serious. It's about Leonard. He's lying to you," he blurted out and then Deb was staring at him her eyes crinkled in surprise. "He's not… he's not a shop teacher from Queens."

"I know. I know. I know exactly who he is," she admitted and Steve froze. Oh, so they were just lying to him? Great. "And Leonard isn't lying to me. I've been lying to you."

And there was the confirmation of just lying to him.

"What?"

"I was afraid you wouldn't approve if you knew who he really was."

"Deb, he's involved with some very bad people. You know, there's allegations that he helped destroy evidence."

"Well… isn't Rowan involved with some very bad people too?"

"Okay, firstly, not anymore, and secondly… okay yes she was but uh…."

"See, and I love her! I've given her the benefit of the doubt, why can't you do that for Leonard?" she cried. "Look, Leonard says he didn't destroy evidence and as for the rest of it, his clients, all of that, it's long over."

Steve sighed, Deb lent over and took his hand. "Honey, I know you're worried about me, but I can take care of myself. And I know from living through disappointment. I thought I was gonna have a singing career. It never happened. And then I thought maybe someday I might get married and have babies. But it was never the right time. But you know, it's okay. I have no regrets. But, Steve the one thing I never gave up on was love. And I guess it never gave up on me, either, because here he is. At long last. And now, you know, I can leave this earth knowing that I have experienced the most profound and life-altering thing a person can."

Steve took that in, he couldn't help it, all he could think about at that moment was Rowan and how everything deb just described was everything he felt for her. "Which leads me to this question," she said. "Do you feel even a fraction of that for Rowan?"

Steve half laughed. Oh god, if only she knew. "A fraction and then some," he admitted.

"Good," Aunt Deb said with a smile. "Good. Don't let her get away Steven. You're so willing to risk your life. When are you gonna be willing to risk your heart? I know it's scary, but once you give in, it'll be the best feeling in the world."

"It's not that easy for me, Aunt Deb," he whispered. "Rowan… she comes with a lot of baggage, and I can see your face I don't care about the baggage, or the less then squeaky clean past she has and the criminal network she used, and still might have ties to. She has the kind of baggage that means she could leave, and everyone I care about… they leave me Deb. I'm afraid… I'm afraid that if I let myself fall in too deep with her… that I won't survive it when she leaves."

"Steve the first time I met your girlfriend, she was outside in a parking lot, sobbing because the girl you were calling your girlfriend at the time had forced her out of your life. I saw anguish in that girl's eyes so deep and painful it made my own heart hurt for her and I saw that mirrored in your eyes every time you looked at her and couldn't go to her," Aunt Deb told him and Steve felt his own heart squeeze in response. He never really thought about how much Catherine's edict had hurt Rowan, how painful it had been for her to go through with it simply because she wanted him to be happy. All he had ever thought about was how it had damaged him, how it had made him miserable. It had proved to him that his feelings for Rowan were so much more than what he had been shrugging them off as. It had proved, when he was livid that Catherine had taken her from him that he wasn't capable of letting Rowan go.

Deb watched the emotions play on Steve's face before continuing.

"I am so happy that you two officially got together. Seeing her with you now, listening to her talk about you, all those pictures she has on her phone of the two of you together, of just of you, makes me happy. Not going to lie though, she has a lot of pictures of you without your shirt on… is there a reason? Are you allergic to shirts Steven?" she asked. Steve couldn't help it, he laughed, Rowan did love taking pictures of him when he was shirtless. "I think you're letting your fear blind you. That girl isn't going to leave you unless someone comes and drags her away, though I am a little afraid that she had no idea how you feel for her. That you might be the person who drags her away… well… actually pushes her away."

She was right. Rowan really had no idea how much he cared for her, last night's talk had made that perfectly clear to him. He wasn't sure how to make it anymore clearer to her though.

"There is something I need from you," Deb said changing the topic.

"Yeah and what's that."

"Someone to walk me down the isle," she offered and Steve smiled. "You know anybody?"

"I do, I do know someone," he said. Because obviously it was going to be him.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

It was only a half hour after he finished talking to his Aunt that Leonard had called and requested that Steve come to meet him. He figured that meant that Aunt Deb had told them about the conversation. Great. Which meant this was either going to be an argument, or this man was going to throw a heap of terrible excuses at him. But he, he went because he loved his Aunt, and he owed it to her to try.

"Hey," he said once he spotted him.

Leonard shook his hand with a lukewarm smile. "Thanks for coming."

"Yeah, what can I do for you?"

Leonard clapped his hands and sighed at Steve. "As soon as Deb told me what her nephew did for a living, I figured we'd have some issues."

"I got no issues with you being a lawyer, Leonard."

"You just don't like my client," he summed up.

"I worked for Gino Leone, yeah, but I felt like my real job was to keep the government accountable. There were times they overreached trying to put Gino behind bars. "

"Yeah, because they knew he was guilty."

"But if Gino Leone doesn't have the same right to privacy and self-incrimination as the rest of us, sooner or later, none of us will have those rights. So I gave him my best defense. And I find this all quite an interesting argument considering everyone on the wrong side of the law has heard about that girl you're so fond of. The Great Rowan Pierce and her Network of Mayhem."

Okay wow, that was a new one. They were getting quite creative with their nicknames for her.

"Okay, watch where you throw your threats there, Cassano, Rowan's your staunchest supporter."

"And a really great girl, am I right?" he asked and Steve looked away. She was, anyone could see that. "You don't see a criminal when you look at her. And Deb doesn't see one when she looks at me. And for the record that was not a threat."

"Yeah well. Rowan's not mixed up in that anymore. And if you knew the kind of shit she was doing to help me with her cases before… that man got involved, you'd understand why a network was necessary. But you, apparently, you gave Leone more than your best defense. The word is you helped him bury evidence. I checked you out."

"I knew you would. That's why I brought this," he said and then stooped down, went through his travel case and brought out a brown wrapped package. "One morning an envelope was dropped at my office. Inside was a key to a locker in Penn Station and a note that read, Destroy anything you find. This box was in the locker."

"What's in it?"

"I don't know. If I had opened this box and there was evidence morally I would have been compelled to share it with the prosecution. So I didn't open it. But I didn't destroy it either. I would never do that," he told him and then offered Steve the box.

"What do you want me to do with it?"

"Do whatever you think is right." He said with a shrug. "I ended my treatment the day before Deb and I got on the boat. There's nothing more they can do for me. I'm feeling pretty good right now, but in a month or so I'm gonna take a turn for the worse. All I really wanna do is spend whatever time I have left making your aunt the happiest woman in the world. We're getting married tomorrow, your girl bought a new dress just for you, she's got a list of songs she wants to sing, but I know it wouldn't feel right to Deb unless you were there. I appreciate you hearing me out."

And then he just left him there. With what was probably damning evidence and one hell of decision to make.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve and Danny sat in his living room, waiting for the wedding to start. In between them on his coffee table was the box that Leonard had given him that may or may not have held evidence to a murder.

"So what are you gonna do with that thing?" Danny asked. Only because he was desperate to open it and see what was inside.

Steve took a deep breath as if getting ready to go on this huge rant and instead said: "You know what? I think I'm gonna put it in a locker for a couple of months and accidentally forget about it and then I'm gonna give it to the New York D.A."

Danny nodded. "Ah. That's very nice, I think. You know, Leonard never has to deal with it."

"You know what, man? You were right. My Aunt deserves to be happy. She does," Steve admitted.

The front door opened and two people came in. Grover in his best tux followed by Rowan, in a lovely white Hawaiian print dress, all white and pink flowers, a lei of purple orchids around her neck. God damn she looked beautiful. She always looked so fucking beautiful.

"Come on, now. We gonna do this thing or what?" Grover cried. "I got on my best monkey suit, man. I'm ready to party, baby!"

Rowan rolled her eyes and then clocked the box. "Aw come on now, what are you doing with this?" she cried. "Don't you dare ruin this wedding with the gun in that box!"

Steve and Danny groaned at her. "It's a gun? It's a fucking gun? I knew it!" Danny crowed while Steve swore and said: "I have to tell the D.A. about it now."

It was Grover who said: "Isn't she not dreaming right anymore? Isn't that what you said? She can't help us with cases cause she's not dreaming right at the moment?"

Rowan picked up the box and shook it. "Eh… you're right, my dreams have been a bit faulty as of late… could be knife… could be a gun do…"

"Whoa… wow," Danny said to her. "The Canadian just jumped right out of you there."

"Yeah, it'll do that sometimes, eh?" she said. "Come on, let's go my big toasted marshmallow filled with testosterone."

Steve stood, Danny finished putting on his shoes and left him and then it was just he and Rowan together. He was just staring at her, and how lovely she looked while she was fixing his suit lapels and the collar of his jacket and smiling at him like he was the only man in the world. All that mattered was that he was the only man in her world.

"Danny says you went through a sky light today?" she asked.

"It was the only way, babe," he said but she shook her head.

"Oh so you did it purposely? Really? There wasn't like… a door? Or a window? Maybe a set of stairs?"

Steve looked down at the girl he cared about and tried not to sigh at her. "I literally just said it was the only way for me to take the guy down."

"Okay, okay," she said. "I mean… I know what you do, Steven, and I love that you're so brave but I'm telling you I really don't like the recklessness, I worry so much about you…"

Steve quickly took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. "I know I don't say this stuff enough, I know you're frustrated with me and I get it, but I just… I just really need you to know how much I like you."

Rowan's eyes narrowed at him. "Babe… what are you talking about? Where is this coming from?"

"Just a talk I had with Aunt Deb this afternoon…"

"Oh, you didn't tell her what Leonard was up to… did you?"

"I did…" "AW Steven!" "It's alright, she already knew. The point is… I'm not good at saying it and sometimes I don't show you… but you… you're the most important thing to me. And I just really need you to know that. You know that, right?"

Rowan lifted her hand up to the red scar running through his hair line, a memory of what they went through at the hands of the man she had once called her brother.

"I know you tried to stop him," Steve whispered. "I know you tried, and I adore that you see the inherent good in everyone, even a man like Wo Fat… even in me when I don't deserve it, but I need you to let this go, my darling. I don't blame you and I need you to stop blaming yourself cause I can't go through another night like the last one."

She smiled up to him and then kissed him quickly. "Okay, enough of this mushy stuff, you're gonna make me cry and ruin my make up," she told him swatting at his shoulder like she was bothered and he just smiled. She went to walk way but Steve still had a hold of her hands and then tugged her back to him for one last kiss. "You really do look stunning, Rowan."

Rowan did a little twirl for him before disappearing out the front door and making him follow after her.

Fuck his girl was pretty. He'd do anything to always have her. Absolutely anything.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

They had the wedding at the Royal Waikiki. Rowan was singing a beautiful rendition of Tale as Old as Time as Steve walked his Aunt Deb down the aisle. Rowan had gone all out on getting his Aunt Deb her favourite flowers, and a guy to video tape everything so they could share it with Mary and eventually little Joanie.

She had taken his Aunt Deb out to get her a dress she knew they'd love. She had Nick DiMarco get ordained on the internet. She had proof read the vows and cried over them both and she was going to cry when they said them anyway.

She cued up music for his Aunt Deb to sing her vows to Leonard, and while she didn't sit with Steve but instead stood on the outer edges making sure everything was running smoothly, Steve couldn't keep his eyes off of her, as per usual.

This wedding meant a lot to him. That she was involved. That she had done this for his aunt simply for him, and for her without either of them asking to take this responsibility on. And watching his Aunt Deb sing to her husband-to-be he couldn't help but feel like this was his future. He was going to marry Rowan one day, she'd be in a stunning dress with a long train, flowers in her red hair and she'd sing her fucking vows to him, he just knew she would. And he'd make sure his vows had a Disney reference in them, cause his girl loved Disney.

Yes. That was his future. And he wasn't going to let anything, not even Wo Fat and his stupid network, or Steve's own fucking fears and stupidity get in between him and that.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Trevor walked into the back office of the garage with an envelope. Roman was sitting behind the desk chain smoking like he usually did, he smiled at Trevor like he always did but Trevor knew not to trust that smile.

Roman was beautiful on the outside, the perfect blonde and blue eyed Russian child, he looked like a perfect chiseled Adonis. He preferred light blue jeans, plain white shirts and leather jackets, but everything on him was designer in some way. He stood tall, he had no posture issues what so ever. And if Trevor didn't know just how ruthless and insane the man was he'd have had a major hard on for him.

"Trevor Pierce," he said warmly, standing up his arms spread as if he were ready to hug him. "Where's my money."

Trevor offered up the envelope and Roman just stared at it. "There is no way that little envelope has 24 million dollars in it," he said.

No, no it did not. Not even a little bit. "Look… about that…"

Rowan's smile faded into a glittering toothy dangerous smirk. "That better be a cheque Pierce."

"Look, I can't… uh… I can't come up with that kind of money right away, you know? I thought… that we might be able to do like… an installment thing, maybe?" Trevor offered.

In his life he had always been able to smile his way out of trouble. He was always the good boy, the one that people never expected anyway. He was good at flashing a bright smile and getting people to see things his way.

But Roman Stepanov had been blind to his charms since day one and that cherub like grin was doing nothing for him right now.

"Oh… Pierce-ie, you see, the thing you liked about me… was that I'm not a bank," he said. He snapped his finger and two of his cronies grabbed him and forced him down into a chair they had brought with them, one held him down by the shoulder the other wrapped roped around his chest to hold him there.

"I didn't do a background check. I didn't ask about your credit. I gave you more and more and how do you repay me?" he asked. He picked up the envelope and the cash tumbled out. "What is this?"

"It's ten grand," Trevor whispered.

"You owe us 24 million dollars and you came here with ten grand?" a female voice asked and then there she was. Irina Stepanov. Roman's twin sister. Absolutely stunning girl, a beautiful Russian blonde, but she was absolutely insane. Ten times as worse as her brother.

She came from behind the two men that had him tied to the chair. She was in leather pants, high heels and white off shoulder capri top. She smiled prettily at him.

"It's a good thing you're pretty," she whispered.

Yeah, and she was into him.

"I keep telling you, you're not my type."

That smile faded. "Pity."

As she walked away to join her brother where he was leaning against the desk, Trevor finally noticed that he had a blow torch in his hand that he kept flicking it on and off. Oh god. Oh god. Think fast, think fast.

"Okay, look. You're right, you're not a bank. But that just means the payment plan is up to you!" he said. "I'm not trying to be disrespectful… but… ten grand was all I had and I thought… better than nothing right?"

The Twins exchanged glances and then started laughing. "Oh it really is good that he's pretty otherwise he'd just be useless."

She reached behind her and pulled out a metal pole with a strange looking end. "Do you know what they do to you, in the Russian Gulag, if you default on your debts?" she asked.

Of course Trevor wouldn't know that and he was about to snap out a witty sassy comeback, but that died in his mouth the second Roman lit up the end of the metal pole with the blow torch in his hand and Trevor realized that it was a branding iron.

"You have got to be shitting me!"

But Irina just smiled at him. "In the gulag we tattoo couples having sex on you. But we're looking for quick and painful, so this will do."

One of the cronies bent down and forced his jacket sleeve up and then the other slammed his hand down on the arm of the chair and kept it there.

She approached with the red hot branding iron and Trevor frantically struggled but got nowhere. "Wait, wait, but… I'm not defaulting. I can pay, I just can't pay it all right now."

"Unfortunately, the Bank of Stepanov wants you to pay it all upfront and in full," Roman told him just as Irina said: "Brother, you've taken too long and it's cooled off, heat me please?"

Roman turned, blow torch ready but Trevor was not going down like this. "Wait a second here! We're reasonable people here! There's gotta be something I can do, right?"

He winced cause he just opened himself up for a bunch of sexual requests from the woman who was obsessed with him. And when the twins exchanged glances, proud smirks on their faces, Trevor knew whatever they had cooked up was not going to be easy or fun for him.

Roman squatted down in front of him with a smile. "Congratulations, Trevor, you're going to join our gang."

Trevor squinted at him. "Uh… don't I need to be Russian? Cause I'm really not!"

Irina cuffed him and Trevor winced but Roman just smiled at him patiently. "Our heist gang, you nitwit. We need a new player and you're going to be it."

"Me? Heists? Oh, I don't know… I'm not really good under pressure."

"I've seen you skate, you'll be fine," Irina said twirling the brand in her hands.

"See we need a conman, a distracter of sorts..." Roman said. "And look at you with that charming smile and winning personality we think you're just the man for the job."

Oh god, his stupid charismatic personality. It was great in high school, it wasn't doing him any favours now.

"And if I say no…"

"I brand you before we cut you up into tiny little pieces. We'll be sure to mail all the identifiers to your parents… so they have something burry."

Oh, how nice of her.

"Alright, well… I guess it could be fun," he said with a shaky smile. "You guys got good benefits? Dental maybe?"

"He's funny," Irina said with a grin while Roman just shook his head. He lit the torch again and she went about heating up the branding iron again.

"What are you doing?" Trevor asked, noting that no one had let him go yet.

"You belong to us now, Trevor Pierce," Irina told him, her voice low and husky as if this was a reverent moment. "You shall be marked so everyone knows who you belong to and just how low on our totem pole you are."

She turned to him and Trevor started to panic again, struggling to get away but failing. "No… now… wait a second here, I agreed to your terms…"

"Yes, we know, but you still need to be punished," she told him with a terrible wicked grin on her face painting her in a more grotesque light

As she walked forward Trevor kept shouting: "No, but… I agreed! I agreed!" but nothing stopped her.

The brand hit his forearm and just like that everything disappeared in a blanket of black. All he knew was the burning pain and the echoing piercing scream that he dimly realized was his.