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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Happy Long Weekend Friday. So yes. Rowan has lied again. That is going to be a recurring problem and is one of the things she will have to fix and will be addressed in the season 6 portion of the story. I'll be heading up north on Saturday and I'm coming back on Monday, so Monday's chapter might be late! But don't worry! I'll get it up before Tuesday! There's a bit of angst in this chapter, but the episode on a whole ends on a really cute note. Monday you're gonna get a SURPRISE! So don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys on Monday!
Chapter 153
Chin had just woken up and was walking through his kitchen, mug in hand enjoying the coffee and the morning when he heard voices in his living room. That was unexpected, since Jerry usually slept in so he figured he'd check it out. Chin stuck his head in to find Jerry in a nice suit sitting beside a child talking about… coding?
"Uh… hey Jer," he said to him.
"Morning, Roomie," he answered as if all of this was normal. Chin definitely wouldn't have let Jerry move in if he thought that this was going to be the norm.
"What's all this?" he asked indicating to the suit.
"Oh, just prepping for my interview at InoTech," he said like that answered the question instead of raising more. "Ani here is my IT consultant."
"Wait a minute," Chin said check the watch on his wrist. "Shouldn't you be in school, little man?"
While Ani straightened, Jerry just shrugged. "Why? Just to be force-fed more misinformation? It can waiting. Ani and I have more important things to worry about. This new gig I applied for requires programming skills, and I know nothing about programming."
"Well, maybe that means you're not the right man for the job."
"That's the problem, I'm not the right man for any job," he said and Chin took a sip of his coffee to mask the pity in his eyes. "And since my mom took off to Maui, I figure I need at least 50k a year to move out of this place and get my own." Okay, well… that was fair. "Oh! And I need a small loan."
"You know what Jer, why don't you ask Rowan? Rowan has lots of money to spare apparently, maybe she'll lend you the money to buy a place."
Jerry shook his head. "Nope, that's blood money… not to mention… I think McGarrett's still mad at me… you know… for hiding her… and not telling him…"
Steve had been upset but he was over that now. In fact, he and Rowan were doing surprising well considering, no major arguments in a very, very long time. Which mean a big one had to be on the rise sooner or later.
"It's just 20 bucks," Jerry whispered when Chin didn't answer. "To pay said IT consultant."
"The financials that we discussed are non-negotiable, Jerry," Ani said and Chin shook his head.
"Don't worry Chin's good for it!"
"OR!" Chin interrupted. "Or maybe, I just call your parents and let them know you're ditching school."
Ani looked up at him and nodded appreciatively. "Shrewd negotiator," he said picking up his bag and getting up. "Good luck, Jerry."
After Ani left Chin just pinned Jerry with a knowing glare but he was already moving and ignoring him. "Well, I gotta get going anyways. Oh, listen. If InoTech calls, I was a coder at your company for seven years."
"What Company?" Chin asked.
"Your global import-export business," Jerry explained, but Chin had never had an import-export business. "By the way, you're incredibly successful."
"Jerry… I'm not comfortable…"
"Why not, Rowan's okay with lying for me," he said.
Oh, so he got Rowan to lie about Jerry's CV but he didn't want to ask her for money. "Okay, well Rowan's really good at lying… like scarily good…" "Yeah she's really good." "And she's also totally up to morally grey activities where I'm not…"
"Just please Chin?" he asked as he headed for the door. Chin let him go and smiled into his coffee. Oh that Jerry, such a character. And now he was getting Rowan in on it… or the other way around. Either way, having those two joined together on common projects, might not be good for Five-0 or the island.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve had gone boxing with Ellie and she had been great. A wonderful work-out, a great boxer and he had even let her get a few jabs. Though to be fair he felt a little off kilter having to box a woman, he didn't want to hit her too hard but he didn't want her to think that he was going easy on her either. It wasn't like he didn't hit her at all, he got a few jabs in.
The bell rung and Steve backed away, sweating and ready to throw in the towel. "Lucky me, saved by the bell," he said taking off the protective gear and the gloves to head towards his towel and his water.
"So, you ever gonna give me an answer?" she asked.
About his hips telegraphing his jabs? What was she talking about? Unless this was about…
"About your friend?"
"Yeah."
Goddamn. "You're not gonna let that go, are you?" he asked.
Ellie shook her head watching as Steve took a drink from his water bottle. "No, no, I'm not. I'm telling you, you and Jess are perfect for each other."
"Yeah, but you know I'm with Rowan."
"Not officially according to you," Ellie said with a knowing smile he didn't like. "Still not your official girlfriend, just…"
"We're officially dating, I've told you that."
"Officially dating is completely different from officially being a girlfriend. Officially dating has a lot of grey area, a lot of room to wiggle," she told him and Steve scowled. He didn't see it like that, but apparently a lot of girls sure as hell did. "Come on, her favourite movie is Guns of Navarone, she supports the Second Amendment and spends weekends surfing. You see. Perfect."
Steve shook his head. His perfect girl, the girl of his dreams was Rowan and he didn't understand why that was clear to everyone.
"Not to mention that she's drop-dead gorgeous."
"Drop dead Gorgeous," he echoed he then looked her up and down and said: "I've never seen Guns of Navarone."
"Come on, Steve. Say yes. If anything, it'll help you out with the old lady," she said and then someone cleared their throats behind him.
Steve turned immediately and found Rowan standing there. Considering you needed to pay to get access into the gym he was surprised she was standing there. But knowing his girl, and how easily she got in and out of places, he quickly shrugged it off as he had more important things to worry about.
"Babe, what are you doing here?" he asked immediately moving towards her, immediately putting the least amount of distance between them. Very concerned about how much of that she had heard. "I thought you had uh… I thought you had a job interview today."
"Yeah, I did. Had barely an interview, sat down, sang a few bars, played the guitar, bam job, they want me to start training ASAP. And… uh… I got your late Christmas gift in the mail today, you know that big ticket I was talking about, so I thought I'd surprise you by bringing it to you, but you also left your phone in my car and Danny keeps calling.…" she said as Steve hopped out of the ring, he took the phone she offered up to him with a smile and went to kiss her but she ducked him to approach Ellie who was still in the ring looking all shades of uncomfortable.
"Yeah… so perfect for him?"
Ah fuck, so she had heard a lot more than he would have liked.
"Uh… yeah… my friend Jess…"
"Drop dead gorgeous and perfect for him, I heard," Rowan said. "Uh… he did tell you that he and I… that we're…"
"Label-less?" Ellie asked. "Yeah… I unnno… I thought maybe he might like a little variety..."
"Wow, liking you less and less," Rowan muttered to herself and then shot Steve a patient glare. "And at no point during her attempts to convince you to take someone else on a date did you think to say I'm already dating someone?"
"I actually have said that every time she asked," Steve said and then pointed to Ellie. "Isn't that right, didn't I say that?"
"He did, he does, you come up every time I mention it," she admitted but Rowan who had been regarding Steve carefully put the mask of the Ice Queen up, clearly not believing one of them maybe both of them. She turned back to Ellie with that dangerous glittering smile on her face and asked: "Got anyone perfect for me?"
Steve dropped his water bottle and moved towards her. "Now wait a second… you're with me!"
"Am I though?" Rowan asked with a patronizing grimace on her face.
"She has a point your arguments were getting weaker and weaker in regards to me setting you up with Jess."
"No, they weren't," Steve snapped. "Rowan I'm not going to see this Jess girl, I don't care about this Jess girl… we're going steady…"
"Going steady died out in 1940, am I your girlfriend Steven?" she asked and when Steve couldn't answer she turned back to Ellie, took her phone, programmed her number into it and said: "Have him give me a call."
She then turned back to Steven, slapped a package to his sweaty chest and smiled up at his angry and frustrated face and said: "Enjoy your case, Steven."
And then she left him there with Ellie in the ring and his phone going off in his hand. Fuck, what was happening right now?
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Danny came and got him from the gym. Steve did well keeping that mornings disastrous encounter to himself. He did, however show off the signed Tom Brady jersey which was the main gift he was supposed to get on Christmas. It was only a few weeks late. He might have squealed if he opened that up on Christmas, he definitely managed to pair it down to a manly yelp when he opened it outside of the gym. Damn his girl knew him well. He still loved his picture frame, he had it on his desk running at all times, but he wasn't surprised that the jersey had been her main gift for him. It was pretty amazing. He had wanted to wear it but he also didn't want to get it dirty. He had chosen to hide it in the Camaro's trunk because Danny kept eyeing it with a greedy longing look.
The jersey kept Danny and Steve distracted. He got all the way to the ME's office and didn't say anything. They got the HPD impound lot and found a PI that wanted to help them with the case as the dead girl was the daughter of his friend and he had said he'd look out for her. So that had kept him from saying anything as well.
He tried so hard to let this not get to him, to let the case take up all of his attention but what had happened that morning was nagging at the back of his mind. He didn't want to date Jess, and he didn't want Rowan being set up with someone else, what if that guy was perfect? He wouldn't have Steve's commitment issues, or battle wounds or unresolved parental issues. He'd have a stable job, he'd like more things that she did… Steve wouldn't be able to compete with that. Not even a little bit. So he figured… he figured that he'd talk to Danny about it, see if he had an idea on what he should do.
The man was always yapping on about something he had to have some good advice. Right?
"So, let see if I got this… Rowan walked in on Ellie trying to set you up with another girl and she walked out of there with a possible set up of her own?" he asked after Steve had explained what had happened that morning.
"It's not funny Danny."
But Danny was already laughing. "It kinda is." When Steve wouldn't do anything but glare at him Danny relented. "Why the hell didn't you just tell Ellie that you're with Rowan? Huh? That shuts down the argument quick."
"Well I did, but then she said that… you know… officially dating isn't the same thing as being her boyfriend, I swear, her and Rowan have got to be in on this together," he sighed but the noticed he face Danny made. "What the hell does that face mean? That face you just pulled what the hell was that?"
Danny just shrugged. "I mean, they're right. Officially dating is completely different from an official relationship, you know?"
No, no he didn't know, he did not get it. To him it meant the same thing. Just one had a label and the other didn't. Why was it so bad that Steve didn't want to put a label on her? He said he needed time, fucking give it to him!
"And besides, there's no way I'm going to let you go on a set up. I got two words for you: Patty Fitzgerald."
"Who's Patty Fitzgerald?"
"Patty Fitzgerald is someone my aunt set me up with when I was 19 years old, okay? I was single, I was young. I figured why not?"
"Big mistake?" Steve asked.
"It was a colossal mistake."
"What happened?"
"Trust me you do not want to know, all you have to know is that I'm not going to let that happen to you."
Harry, the P.I., had been left told to go home so they could investigate without him getting underfoot, though Steve had a feeling it wasn't going to be the last time he saw Harry and then he and Danny walked back to their smart table where everyone was waiting for them, except for Chin who seemed to be off in Danny's office on a call. Together they watched a video of their victim Brooke from the Hula Company's website that she worked for.
"Okay, so what do we know about the Manoa Hula Company?" Steve asked after the video was done. He was looking at a picture of all the hula dancers in their traditional hula garb, all long dark brown hair, flowers and grass skirts. All beautiful women of the same or similar age.
"Well, on the surface, everything appears to be Kosher. They hire these dancers for private events corporate outings, graduation parties et cetera."
"But according to the PA's office, the clients in the know go to the website, where all the dancers have a profile page just like the one we saw," Kono explained.
"It's like a menu. You pick the dancer you want, you call up the hula manager, she sets the whole thing up for you," Grover finished, just as Chin came into the room.
"So, I ran the GPS that your man Harry planted on our vic's car. It shows that she left her place around 2 am and went to Pier 54. Which would be impossible, since Dr. Shaw puts TOD right around midnight."
"So the killer was driving her car," Danny assumed.
"That's what I thought too, so I had CSI do one last sweep of her car, looking for any fingerprint or DNA evidence. They came up empty. So I'm having them canvas all the boats in the marina and checking video surveillance."
"Yeah, but why dump Brooke in the marine pod?" Grover asked. "When you got the whole Pacific Ocean out there?"
They all thought about it for a moment before Kono murmured: "A marine pod guarantees that she'll be found. That's what our killer wanted."
"We have to go to that Hula place and talk to the owner, see who she left with last night. Chances are her… client… was the last person to see her alive… or is our killer," Steve said.
"I'm glad you said that, because Kono and I… may have found your way in," Chin said. "We've already got a hold of her and she's willing to play. But she's in the dark right now, only knows to pretend to not know you when you show up."
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, not liking where this was going. Kono smiled brightly at him and that just made the worry worse.
"Turns out they have a new recruit, just hired today," Kono said pulling up a webpage. "No video yet, says it's pending, filed under professional singer to accompany the dancers or to be booked out for solos. A new market they're burgeoning into."
But Steve froze once the photo was up on the screen. Because smiling out at them at was Rowan. Oh god, her new job! Why the hell didn't he ask her about her new job?
Danny turned to him, snorting he was so excited and cried: "Well… I guess she doesn't need Ellie to set her up huh?"
Steve didn't find it funny.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Logically the next stop was to the Manoa Hula Company where they pulled the owner Kiana Thompson out of her office and made her speak to them. Well they didn't have to pull her out of the office, she just came out and refused to let them back there, which was suspicious but you know, when your company's under investigation you don't trust people so Steve was willing to let it go. Plus it worked with the plan, it meant they were out in the open and there was a good chance she'll clock him staring at Rowan. He was supposed to really play up being attracted to her, worse than usual, Danny had said. Steve didn't think it would be hard.
They told Thompson what had happened and she acted the appropriate amount of shocked and distressed. If she was lying she was a good liar. But again… her company was under investigation and she was maintaining it was all lies… so….
"Have you gotten in touch with Brooke's father?" she asked. "They're extremely close. He's going to be devastated.
Steve, who couldn't keep his eyes from scanning the lobby and the windows where the girls could be seen practicing, absently answered: "Yeah, we're reaching out to him now."
"Are you looking for something Commander?" she asked him, turning her eyes to the window where the girls were practising their dance routines. "Are you interested in booking us for one of your functions?"
"No, not at all," Steve snapped but was still unable to tear his eyes away because he had finally spotted that red headed vixen who should have told him she was trying to get a job at a fucking hula company! Why did she even need this job, her last song sold for 300 thousand dollars, what had she fucking spent it on? Not the mortgage or utilities cause he was covering those and letting her stay rent free.
"Ms. Thompson, when was the last time you saw Brooke?"
"Just last night we had a corporate event at the Modern."
Tearing his eyes away from where Rowan was learning dance moves Steve opened his mouth to ask her a question and then paused and turned back to the window. Wait a second… dance moves? What? Why? She wasn't supposed to be a dancer.
"Are you okay?" she asked as Danny dug his elbow into Steve's side.
"I'm fine," he snapped his cheeks coloring in embarrassment. "Okay, we're gonna need a list of everybody who was there."
She nodded, so at least she was willing to help out in that aspect. Steve's eyes found Rowan's again, she was in an off the shoulder white cap-sleeved crop top, she had flowers in her long wavy red-blonde hair and she was wearing a grass skirt. Yep. He was attracted. Like… fully and completely. No need to fake that shit.
"Do you know if Brooke, uh, took any work home with her last night?" he heard Danny ask, but Rowan was laughing, and smiling and distracting him to old hell and back. Fuck him he just wanted to go over there, kick that door down and then kiss her. But he wasn't going to stop there, no sir, he was going to do terrible things to her in front of those goddamn windows. He didn't care who saw.
It was when Thompson snarled: "Excuse me?" to Danny that Steve turned his eyes back to the conversation. He may not have been paying attention but he knew what Danny had said just by the tone of her voice.
"Ms. Thompson, we know your company's under investigation," he told her.
She raised her chin haughtily after rolling her eyes. "That is nothing more than jealous competitors trying to slander my name."
"So, you're saying that your dancers, they never have relationships with clients outside of work?" Danny asked.
Steve's eyes slid back to Rowan whose blue eyes were finally on him. God, he hoped they were doing this right because if this didn't work, he was going to drag her out of that office with him right now. Screw having a mole inside the company. And she was keeping the hula costume.
"I did not say that," she said with a shake of her head and when that won her silence from the two detectives she continued. "My dancers are beautiful women. If a client calls asking to meet one of them, I am not above making an introduction."
Steve who had been staring her down purposely turned his eyes back to Rowan. "Yeah, of course not."
"Matchmaking has been around for thousands of years, gentlemen," she told them. "It's an ancient tradition that kings and queens used to set up their children. There's no money exchanged. Nothing illegal about it."
"But you do charge four times more than your competitors. Right?" Danny asked.
Rowan smiled at him, twittering behind her hands as the other hula girls gathered around her, all their eyes pointedly staring at him. Well that was him caught staring by them as well, so he waved back placidly.
"Quality comes with a price," she said and then turned her eyes to Steve. "Shall I give you a demonstration?" she asked.
Steve barked out a no and stammered some lame excuse that not even he would have believed as Thompson waved Rowan over. Rowan was confused as first, but the girls pushed her out of the room and she slowly approached them.
"Ma'am," she said when she got closer her eyes sliding to Steve who had lowered his eyes to look properly sheepish around her.
"Rowan, this is Commander McGarrett of Five-0, Commander McGarrett, this is Rowan Pierce our new singer. You have great timing I just hired her today and had her filling out paperwork and meeting the girls," she introduced and the two shook hands like they were strangers. Rowan blinked her eyes at him in that coquettish way he loved and he hit her with that half smirk that always got her excited.
"I would like you to show him around."
"Me?" Rowan asked clearly surprised. "Am I really the best choice?" she then turned back to Steven. "As she said, I've only been hired today, you see, I won't know as much as the other girls… did you want me to get one of them?"
"No, you," Thompson said in a strange voice, which had Rowan turning back to her confused. The two shared a charged look before Rowan carefully said: "Well, okay, If you insist," and then motioned for him to follow her.
Steve did so letting Danny take over the whole investigation aspect of the case and turned his attention solely to Rowan.
"Privacy, now," he hissed to her and she nodded. She pulled him into a small windowless room with a ballet bar against one wall that was all mirrors.
"Okay. I can hold them out of the stretching room for like ten minutes. What the hell is going on?" Rowan asked.
Steve shook his head, went to the mirrors knocking on each until he was certain that they weren't two way or fake, he then looked around for any bugs or cameras and once he was certain there weren't any he turned back to her.
"You're working for an escort company," he answered absent still looking around for any signs of recording devices.
"I'M WHAT?!"
"Rowan come on, how did you not know that?" he thundered turning around to face her.
"Are you fucking shitting me?! How was I supposed to…? Pete had them at our last function, mentioned they were looking for a singer and since I'm not trying to sing to be famous I'd be perfect…" she snapped at him. "I had absolutely no idea it was… do you think he knew? Oh I'm gonna kill him!"
Steve rolled his eyes and sighed and dug into his pocket. "Okay… whatever, it's working out for now. I have a bug for you, I need you to keep it on you at all times, can you do that?"
"I mean… maybe?" she said taking the bug from him and then hiding it in her waistband. "So like… is this part of the case? You're investigating the escort service?"
"No, murder, one of the girls got murdered last night we don't know if it's involved."
"Oh so I'm working for a pimp and a murderess? That's what you're telling me? Well this is just great, I'm gonna go quit."
"No!" Steve cried grabbing her arm and tugging her into his embrace. "We need you here right now. I just told you that we don't think it's connected to what's happening here… or at least in the sense that she was killed to stop it or something. I wouldn't leave you here if I thought she was a murderer."
"Okay… so what do you want me to do then? Plant the bug in her office and then quit?"
"I don't want you to quit at all!"
"Wait a second, what are you saying? You want me to be a spy, after Afghanistan? Were you not there, Steven? Do you not remember how big of a clusterfuck that was?!"
"Of course I remember, I still have nightmares about it but that is not what I'm asking you to do," he said holding onto her arms tightly. "All we need for you, babe, is to listen and report. Like you always do. She doesn't know you're dating me… actually why does she not know that? Aren't I your emergency contact?"
Rowan blinked her eyes at him a million miles a second and he frowned. Before she could open her mouth to lie to him he asked: "I'm not am I?"
"No, I put Jerry," she admitted and stupidly he felt his heart shatter like she had just told him she was cheating on him or something.
"Jerry?" he hissed. "You picked Jerry over me? What the actual fuck Rowan!"
"Well it was just cause… you know… you're busy and I didn't want them to distract you if you were on a case so I put down Jerry… who's rarely busy and has no problem dropping everything to come get me from the hospital…"
Steve stopped listening after that. She still thought that his work was more important than her. What the hell was her problem?!
"Rowan," he snapped ending her long winded argument. "Rowan. Baby. I swear to god. I don't know how many more times I have to say this, but… you are more important than my goddamn job. For fuck sake if a hospital called me and told me that you had been admitted I would one hundred percent leave a case to come to you…"
"I was more worried about them not being able to get a hold of you if you're like chasing a perp or getting shot at," Rowan muttered but Steve just sighed at her and she winced under the weight of his disappointment. "Why are you complaining, it's working out for you now isn't it?"
She had a point there. She then turned that puppy dog pout up to him and his heart squeezed in his chest. "Please don't make me stay here Steven what if she wants me to go out with a client?"
"Oh she is definitely going to send you out with a client," he said and Rowan opened her mouth to complain. "God Rowan, it's me, she's going to ask you entrap me guaranteed, with the way you were staring at me… and how I was… uh…"
Now Rowan was smiling, a big cheesy grin as she looked up at him from behind sultry hooded eyelashes. She bit the side of her lip in that seductive way that always set him off. "You were ogling me pretty hard."
"I mean… look what you're wearing Rowan can you blame me?" he hissed, leaning in close to press a kiss to her cheek, his hands framing her midriff. "And I was supposed to put it on thick remember…"
"You couldn't just leave it at that could you?" She asked clearly angry with him but he didn't care. She had her arms around his neck and her lips nibbling his own and the world was gone to him for a moment
"Still… be careful about what you say, kay babe?" he whispered. "I've got a bug for you, just keep it in your bag or something… keep it on you at all times. But uh… please babe, just be careful."
"I thought you said I wouldn't be doing anything too dangerous…"
"You're not, I wouldn't be asking you to do this if I thought you'd be in danger," he whispered. "I just… you know… I worry about you."
"I'll be careful Steve, I promise."
"So help me if you take an actual, real fucking client…" he hissed against her lips.
"I don't think you get to care when you're planning dates with… Jess."
Steve growled against her jawline the sound rumbling through her. Her hands went to his sides to dig her fingernails into his and that time when he growled she knew it was because she was turning him not, not pissing him off.
"I'm not… I'm not going on a date with Jess, alright?" he snapped. "I have no intention of going anywhere with Jess. I am with you. Okay. I am with you!"
She pressed him into a deep kiss just as Danny appeared at the door. He took them in and groaned.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked and Steve jumped away from her.
He went about pretending to be embarrassed to be caught kissing her and then glared at Danny. "What?"
"We gotta a name, are you good to go?" he asked making a big show of eyeing Rowan with eyes of disgust, she just shot a glare at Danny until he looked away.
"Yes, uh… Rowan… thank you for the tour… uh… I gotta…"
Rowan smiled flirtatiously at him and waved at him in a coy manner as she called out: "Bye," to him.
Not seconds after he was gone was Kiana Thompson in the room with her. She looked her up and down while Rowan grinned at her like a love sick idiot. She didn't even have to pretend, Steve and his kisses just did that to her on a regular basis.
"He was cute," she sighed.
"And he clearly liked you," Kiana said appreciatively. "Which means I have a job for you."
"Oh yeah?" she asked already knowing where this was going. She bent down, tucking the bug Steve had given her into her sock hoping to god that it was on cause she was about to get the orders to seduce Steve in the next ten seconds.