Rewrite

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Wednesday my wonderful readers! How did you like last chapter? Was it cute enough? Gosh I hope so. So guess what? It's January 21st in the Rewrite world, which means… ANOTHER BIRTHDAY SPECIAL! Kay, so this one is going to be a little bit longer but it's filled with all sorts of cute things, I PROMISE! Ohh… and we got a real steamy scene too, I hope you guys LOVE IT! Don't forget to leave a review, don't forget to tell me what you wanna read for the 200th special chapter, and I will see you guys on Friday!

Chapter 164

They decided, that twenty-one days was overkill but fourteen would be just enough. Which was exactly what Rowan wanted. When both Rowan and Joe showed no signs after a week, they were more than positive that they weren't going show any signs of the dead strain of bird flu that they were certain Joe and Rowan had contracted. And with all the annoyance Rowan had caused, between using her void power to short out security measures and cameras to slapping people when she got pricked with needles, the quarantine nurses just wanted her gone.

So, on a Friday morning she and Joe were going to be released and she couldn't wait. She couldn't wait to be in Steve's arms again, all wrapped up and warm. She couldn't wait to kiss him, to run her finger through his hair or to feel his breath and teeth against her skin. She couldn't wait to see Nahele, which she assumed she would once he came home from school. Starting half way through the school year meant that he couldn't join any of the teams, but he also opted not to join any of the clubs, leaving him extracurricular-less. But Rowan didn't care so long as he came straight home and let her hug him. She was excited for real food, and Steven had promised her SO MUCH food when she got out. Everything she was craving. He'd have to be off for a week to take her to all her favourite spots. She was excited to sleep in her own bed, to smell something other then the stale hospital air. She wanted to smell like Steven again, was that so bad?

They opened up the doors and Rowan rushed out, the air smelled different out there, stupid but to her it did. It smelled fresher. A tingle went up her spine and she knew what that was. She turned, took two steps out into the main hall and practically bowled into Steven.

They were a tangled mess, a mass of limbs, scrambling to grip one another. His lips slammed down onto hers and in turn she practically climbed him to get closer. It look all of two seconds to get her in her favourite position, legs clamped around his waist, her arms wrapped around his neck, her tongue down his throat, while one of his hands was sunk into her hair, the other was wrapped around her waist to keep her to him as they made out.

"I missed you so much," she whispered against his lips and he answered her with a deep growl. Great he was past words that was just the way she wanted him. Where was the nearest supply closet?

"Uh… guys…?"

Rowan froze. She pulled away recognizing that voice. She stared down at Steve who was now staring up at her wincing. "Did you bring the kid?" she asked him.

"Well… he uh… he missed you too…"

"You let him stay home from school?"

"Well… yeah… he… uh… he wanted to…"

"STEVEN!" she cried and he winced again.

"Yeah, I'm starting to regret it now too."

"I am standing right here, you know," Nahele said but Rowan held out a single finger to him. She meant give them one minute but he took it as be quiet.

"You knew, you knew… fourteen fucking days, Steven and we haven't…"

"It's been seventeen actually," he clarified. "And I know but he gave me that puppy dog look and I couldn't say no."

"Oh my god, god forbid we get a dog," she growled she then turned to Nahele and smiled to him as she said: "Baby I am so glad to see you, but you're going to need to give me and Steve some space to uh… calm down, can we do that?"

Nahele nodded and walked away and Rowan turned back to Steve and scowled down to him. "Really, Steven?"

"Yeah I didn't think this through," he said with a sigh and Rowan bowed her head to his.

"I can't believe I'm saying this right now but… put me down, Steven."

Steve winced again, his lips nibbling against her trying to start up their kisses again. She could feel him straining against his pants to get to her and though she wanted nothing more than to feel him inside her, they couldn't cause he had brought their foster kid.

"See the problem with that is I'm stuck now," he whispered. "So, you're just going to have to stay there…"

"Steven James McGarrett you put me down this instant," she ordered but at his full name he merely groaned and sunk his teeth into her shoulder. She pressed into it and then remembered that they needed to stop. "No. Steven. Stop it. Put me down."

He groaned again, and she moaned back at him. "I know, but you brought our kid, now put me down, let me go and fix yourself up."

Steve slowly put her down. Once her feet hit the ground, she straightened herself out, fixed her hair and then moved out of Steve arm range before he could snatch her up once more.

"Fix yourself," she hissed and he scowled trying to discretely fix his pants while Rowan moved with a big grin towards where Nahele was waiting with a get-well teddy for her.

"Hey baby!" she cried pulling him into a tight hug. "I missed you boo!"

He handed her the teddy bear and she took it and clutched it to her chest. "It's so cute!" she cried and his grin grew.

"I picked it out myself," he said. "And spent my allowance on it!"

Steve let him buy this with his own money? For god sake the cheapskate. She pinned Steve with a dry glare but his proud smile was all she needed to see to know that this was probably Nahele's idea, something nice that he wanted to do just for her. "Well that just makes it extra special," she said solemnly. "Alright, enough of this mushy stuff, can we get me home please?" she asked and Steve wrapped his arm around her again and Nahele just smiled.

"Yes please, can you make pancakes? Steve kept trying but he can't do them right," Nahele said. Steve shook his head.

"I swear to god, Rowan, I followed your recipe to the tee, I don't know what I was doing wrong," he growled.

Rowan just smiled at her boys and nodded. God, she had missed them.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Nahele shoved another pancake fully into his mouth. Steve laughed at him, as Rowan scowled and cried: "Geezus kid, chew your food."

Nahele just shook his head and with his mouth full of pancakes said: "It's just too good."

"Breakfast for dinner has always been my favourite," she agreed and Steve just smiled at her in that sultry, silken, half smirk debonair kind of way that always got her blood boiling. Rowan's responding look, a half hooded, tongue partially between her teeth, side glance hit him with so much desire and regret it was ridiculous.

How could he have forgotten how hot he was for her on a regular basis. Add a fourteen-day forced separation, where the previous three days they hadn't been able to act on their desires, and he should have realized that they'd be panting for each other.

After a long moment of them just staring at each other Nahele cleared his throat again and they finally tore their eyes away from each other.

"Okay, you know what," Nahele said to them. "I'm… uh… I'm gonna give you guys a gift."

"Aww baby, you don't gotta do that, my teddy bear is more than enough," Rowan said tapping the head of the stuffed animal she had sitting on the kitchen island beside her.

"Oh, trust me, you two are going to want this," he said. "So, I'm going to go upstairs, cause I have a lot of homework to catch up on and all that, and I'm going to shut my door, and I'm going to put my headphones on and listen to very loud music."

"That's not good for your hearing, though," Rowan whined completely missing what Nahele was giving them.

"Trust me, I'm going to need it," he said before turning to Steve. "And I'm going to take these pancakes upstairs, with the rest of my cocoa, and I'm going to be up there… say… an hour?"

"Maybe longer?"

"Two hours? Is that enough?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah we'll be done by then."

"Done, what are you talking about?" Rowan snapped. "I just got home and he's going to go up to his room…." She trailed off catching Steve's eye. "Oh, oh… aw Steven… why did you…? Okay never mind, are you sure you're okay with this?"

She had posed that last question to Nahele who was nodding grimly. "Yeah, clearly you guys need it," he said.

"Thanks kid," Steve called as he packed up the food and headed out of the kitchen. Immediately Steve was moving closer, his hands reaching for her.

"Steve, this feels wrong… sending him up so we can…." She started but Steve already had a hold of her and was pressing insistent kisses to the edges of her lips. "I'm sure… I'm sure we can wait for him to go to school tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Saturday," he whispered against her and he felt her silent oh against his own lips. Slipping his hand to the back of her neck he tipped her head back so he could kiss her properly and he hungrily went about devouring her.

He had missed this. He had missed having her in his arms, he missed how she tasted, how she so easily melded into his touch like she was his missing piece filling all those empty cracks both in his heart and against him.

It didn't take much to convince her to go with it. Her arms wrapped around his neck and his arms wrapped around her, picking her up and dropping her on the edge of the counter behind her. His head disappeared in her neck, while her hands impatiently attempted to tug off his shirt. He had forgotten how much she liked him shirtless.

He stopped sucking on that spot of her neck where it met her shoulder briefly, only to let the shirt come up and over his head and then he was attached to her again like he was vampire and he was trying to feed off of her. Her nails dug into the skin of his lower back and he almost sunk his teeth into her. God she always knew just where to dig into him. They shifted, digging into his sides and he nearly lost his mind then and there.

He needed those shorts off of her. They looked good on her, of course, but they would look better on the kitchen floor. His hands struggled with the button simply cause he couldn't stop shaking with anticipation, but Rowan, Rowan rarely shook. She made quick work of her own shorts as Steve covered her in kisses, his tongue dipping into her mouth, and then her hands were working on his own pants.

He was hard, he was ready, he wanted her more than anything in the whole world at that moment. The thought of sinking into her, of having her under him clinging to him, had kept him up for the last two weeks. But he wasn't ready. She wasn't ready. He wasn't done with her yet.

But before he could get a hand between her thighs, she had him, gripped in her smooth cool fingers, jerking only twice before he was pitching against her grip. Okay, maybe he was too ready for her. At this rate he'd come before he got inside her.

It took one move, his hands on her hips and one tug and like that he was there, right there, the right spot. His lips fell away from hers as he stared up into those inviting pools of blue. He had already jumped into them, he was already helpless lost to her and willingly so. Those words, on the tip of his tongue, desperate to be heard, to be reciprocated.

She rested against him, her arms around his neck, her eyes searching his as if wondering why he had froze. And he knew why, because he was about to bare his heart and soul to her and he knew, he knew that if he went that far he'd never be able to go back. And he felt that if he was going to say any of that to her that she deserved something a little more romantic than an I love you before they fucked.

She seemed to realize that he was stuck, that he was unable to move because she simply lowered her lips to his, kissing him softly. Nothing too demanding, a simple, easy, soft kiss. And just like that he was jump started again.

He thrust up and she gasped against him as he sunk deep into her body. Oh god how her body clung to him, how it felt so good to be back in that snug, wet warmth of hers. Burying his head into her neck again he fell into that familiar tempo, each thrust just a little deeper, just a little faster. She clung to him, her fingernails digging into his lower back, scratching welts up to his shoulders, fingers dug through his hair as his breath ran hot against her collarbones. Her legs clamped around him to bury him even deep into her, she was off the counter entirely but just pinned to it so they could get closer, until they were nothing but skin to skin.

Her lips pressed hot kisses to his forehead, to his jaw line, to anything she could find while he forged forward desperate to find solace inside her. When he finally came it was mere moments before her own climax, a climax he had brought on by slipping his fingers between them to help her along as he had sensed that he was going to shoot off long before her. He blamed the distance. He had been separated from her too long, getting a taste after pining for it for so long had turned him wild.

But he knew, he still had another hour and half to show her just how long and well he could pleasure her. They were both tired though, he knew that, but he wanted more, needed more, needed to make up for lost time. But at that moment he was content to cradle her to him as they both caught their breaths.

God there was nothing he liked more than having her against him, and nothing he wouldn't do to make sure she never left his side.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Oh, the sex they had.

Two full hours of everything goes. Her on top, him on top, from behind, from the side, all the oral sex they could manage, and then they had collapsed a sweating panting mess certain that they had had enough sex to last a century. That they had had enough to make up for being away from each other for fourteen days. But it had been longer since they had had sex, there had been three days before she got put into quarantine where their schedules had kept them from that, so really it was much longer since she had had him like that.

But after dinner, after Nahele had gone to sleep and Steve was showering, Rowan found herself irresistibly drawn to him again. They fucked four more times, twice in the shower, once in the washroom and then a fourth time in their own bed before they finally fell asleep again.

The fact of the matter had been that she missed him. Going to sleep without him beside her had been awkward and hard. Not to mention she was having nightmares again. The car dream except the dead bodies around her were all Steve. She had never slept more soundly in her life with Steve's arms around her, but then again, he also might have fucked her comatose.

The following morning when she woke up, she was well rested and happy. She had rolled over to find Steve still asleep, probably exhausted, as he had done a lot of the work last night, and she marveled at how peacefully beautiful he was lying beside her.

And he was all hers.

For a short while she had trailed her fingers along the tattoos on his bicep and then down the skin of his ribs. He shifted in bed, his arm wrapping around her and tugging her a bit closer so he could burry his nose into her hair. He murmured in his sleep, shifting closer to her to try and flatten her against his chest. Her hands rested against the planes of his chest, marveling in the muscle and the feel of his heart beat beneath her hands.

It was in that moment, lying in his arms, in his bed, inhaling his scent while pressed up to his chest his heart beat echoing in her ears that she realized it. She was done falling. She had landed.

She was in love with Steven McGarrett.

And that just made today even more special than before.

It took some maneuvering but Rowan finally got herself out of Steve's grasp. She put on her favourite pair of burgundy shorts and lacy black tank top, she did the barest of makeup, ran a finger through her tangled waves of hair and skipped downstairs. She made pancakes the way Nahele liked them and then waited for her boys to wake up.

She heard Steve's phone ring and for a moment she was worried he'd take a case, but he wouldn't do that on today of all days, especially since she had just got home yesterday. Surely, he'd pass it off, right?

But less than ten minutes later, Steven was pounding the stairs and heading towards her in cargo pants, a devastatingly dark blue polo that brought out the blue in his eyes, his shield on one hip his gun on the other.

He winced when he saw her standing there with pancakes ready for them. "Hey babe, I'm sorry, you're gonna kill me, but… I caught a case."

He had come to stand beside her, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. He picked up his plate and began to shove it into a plastic Tupperware container. Obviously to go. Rowan tried not to frown at him. "A case? Today? Couldn't you let HPD…"

"It's a possible bomb threat so, no," he said. He swooped in to kiss her again and she let him, she couldn't really be that mad about it, it wasn't really his fault. "I'll drop Nahele off at school."

Rowan blinked her eyes at him. Nahele? At School? Today? "But it's Saturday, he doesn't have school on Saturday."

Steve turned to look at her, he opened his mouth to answer her but Nahele came crashing down the stairs fully dressed. "Are you almost ready?" Steve asked him as the kid made a mad dash to drop as many fruits and water bottles into his bag. "I've gotta leave, like now."

"One second I'm almost ready."

"But… it's not a school day," Rowan whined. "And I made breakfast!"

"Oh, I know, it's Saturday, duh!" Nahele said, kissing her on the cheek as he brushed past her to put toaster waffles into the toaster. Steve was already pouring him a glass of milk and handing it to him with a stern: chug this. Before he moved on to packing Nahele's pancakes for him too. Great they were both leaving her.

"He's not doing so hot in math or science so I got him a tutor. Every Saturday I drop him off at school to get extra help," Steve explained.

"Oh… well… I could drop him off today, since you have such an important case," Rowan offered.

Nahele turned wide eyes onto Steve who shook his head. "It's kinda like… a… uh… me and Nahele time," he said with a wince. "Sorry, just… we need to bond more, you know?"

Rowan nodded and Nahele softened. "I mean, it's on his way, you know? And you just got home so I don't want to bother you with driving me places, I just want you to rest."

Rowan just nodded again. Feeling jilted and disappointed and a little annoyed. "You guys better go you're going to be late."

They both kissed her cheek one more time before calling good-bye and rushing out the front door. Okay, so her two boys were busy, she couldn't really blame them, with the quarantine, and everyone thinking that it was going to last another week, it made sense that they'd forget what today was. And maybe Nahele didn't know, it wasn't like they had ever talked about it before, but Steve should have remembered. He remembered last year.

Pulling out her phone with a sigh, she dialed the next person who should also have remembered what today was and as it rang she picked at her pancake. When the call connected, she was surprised to get an angry: "What?" from Danny.

But that didn't stop her from hitting him with a cheery: "Good morning! What's crawled up your butt?"

"Hey is this an emergency?" Danny asked her after a brief pause. "Cause I'm kinda really busy."

"Oh… well… no… I just… what are you up too today?"

"We have a bomb threat and I have to drop Grace off at Amber's…"

"Oh, it's a Grace weekend? I could watch her if you'd…"

"And normally I'd be all for that, but you got exposed to that crazy bird flu thing and they were supposed to hold you for twenty-one days but you went and annoyed your way into an early release, so I'm going to hard pass on having you anywhere near my kid," Danny snapped. "And you know, I want Grace to like Amber more. You get it right?"

Rowan said nothing, because all of what he just said, though true, was kind of hurtful cause she realized that he didn't remember either. "Did all of you get called in?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yep."

"Chin and Kono and everyone?"

"That's what all of us means, Rowan."

"Grover too?"

"Okay I don't have time for this. We're all working a case, do you need something, Rowan? Are you feeling Bird-flu-ish? Do you need me to call Steve?"

"No, I just… it's just that… today's my…"

"For fuck… Okay I've got the governor on the other line, I have to go!" Danny cried and then hung up the phone.

Rowan sighed. Okay. So, her Five-0s were all busy, she could call someone else right?

She dialed Max, next cause he was entertaining. But he had a body to put back together… a body he was very certain might be more than one body. He sounded very excited to put together that gruesome puzzle. Kamekona and Flipper were running a special over at the shrimp truck so they were busy.

The only person who picked up and wasn't really all that busy was Jerry. Sure, he wanted to go on a surveillance op, but hey, at least he invited her along.

But it hurt. It hurt that none of her friends, or the man she was in love with had remembered her birthday.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Rowan had gone to pick up Jerry in her pastel purple car and he had not been happy. It stood out too much, he said, and she told him if he wanted a ride this was the one they were taking. So he got in with all his equipment and his cameras and he made he drive out to the other side of Oahu so the could sit down the street to watch a hotdog vendor he was certain was a dictator who had been reported as dead but Jerry was certain the government actually just flipped and relocated to Hawaii.

Rowan had gone up twice to get a hotdog. The first time because Jerry wanted better pictures and he put a spy cam on her, but the second time was cause she was hungry and she had let Jerry eat the first one. She kept checking her phone to see if she'd get a message from anyone but it was two hours since she left the house and still no one remembered.

She sighed again and Jerry stopped taking pictures and turned to her. "What's up? You seem sad."

She wanted to snap back at him, but it wasn't his fault he didn't know when her birthday was. Instead she shifted in her seat to turn to him and asked: "Do you know what today is?"

"It's the 21st. It's also Martin Luther king Jr. Day, National hugging day, and my favourite National Banana Bread day. Oh, and the pagan's celebrated this day as the very first day of the Rowan tree moon," he said. "They would get together and perform initiations, or carve charms or create magical items because the Rowan tree was considered the tree of magic and during the Rowan Tree moon it was extra potent. They also associated it with an astral travel, personal power and success. Which I think is pretty cool, cause, you know, your name is Rowan."

Rowan nodded. Wow… that had… uh… a lot of meaning to her and her life. She wondered if her mother knew that when she named her. She definitely knew the part about the magic tree.

"Yeah, okay, cool, but do you know what else today is?"

"Uh… National Squirrel Appreciation day?"

Rowan scowled at him. "No. Today's my birthday."

"Whoa no way! Your birthday is the first day of the Rowan Tree moon?" he asked and then he gave her shoulder a little fist bump. "And Happy birthday by the way."

"Thanks," she whispered, tearing up a little over her first and only happy birthday of the year. "Did you know that everyone else forgot? Last year they planned this big thing and surprised me with my dream car and this year they all forgot."

"Well… to be fair… aren't they dealing with a bomb threat right now?'

"Well I mean… sure… but I'm supposed to be dating Steve, we live in the same house, he could have easily said happy birthday before he rushed off," she said sulking. "I know I'm being irrational, but it's my birthday and I'm upset so just let me have it."

"No, I get that," Jerry said. "My dad died like a month before my birthday and it was the worst birthday ever. My mom tried to make it a happy day for me but we were all too sad to celebrate. So… you know…"

"But did your friends ever really forget your birthday?"

"Uh… no," Jerry said. "Didn't really have friends though."

"Okay we're both depressing, let's call it a tie," she waved off.

"I wasn't making it a competition," Jerry muttered. "You know, my dad… for special occasions and stuff would take us to this beach for like a little family day type thing. Was there any traditions that you had your family?"

"Uhm… yeah. Birthday person picks the restaurant," she said. "Brother would give me birthday beats, but my mom and I used to go for mani-pedis as a little… uh… girls only thing. I was always most excited for that."

"Oh? Yeah? You liked the mommy daughter stuff?"

"Well yeah… I never… uh… my mom never liked me best, she liked Trevor, so any alone time I got where she wasn't terribly disappointed with me over something stupid I did was rare… and special. And she wasn't allowed to be disappointed with me on my birthday no matter what I did previously. She'd have to pause it."

Jerry stared at her taking that in. A lot of people did when she talked about her family. They'd always say the same thing, that they were certain it wasn't true. Her mother loved her, really she did. But they didn't live with what Rowan did, the only people who'd understand and know all of that to be true were Sarah and Trevor.

He seemed to think about everything she had said and after a moments contemplation he said: "Well hey, what about we wrap up here and go get mani-pedis huh?"

Rowan blinked her eyes surprised. "Really? You'd do that with me?"

"Well… I mean, I've never done it before so like… why not try something new?" he said with a roguish grin and a shrug.

"Awww, that's really sweet Jerry. Trust me, you'll love it your hands and feet are going to be so soft after this," she said going for her keys. This was the most excited she had been that day.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Jerry followed Rowan up to the front door. His nails had been buffed, his cuticles cut and then they put a clear gloss on his nails making them shinier then they'd ever been. But Rowan's were a light purple to match her car with her ring finger a shiny light gold as what she called a: bling finger.

"You sure Steve isn't going to mind if we go for dinner?" Jerry asked, almost bouncing with excitement.

"Asshole abandoned me on my birthday. My birthday, my rules. He's getting left behind!" she said. "But I don't wanna leave Nahele behind so if he's home we're picking him up and then we're going to Side Street."

She got the door unlocked and Jerry held his breath. He had been given a very big job that day and he was excited to see it pan out.

The door finally opened and from all corners of the living room came shouts of: Surprise!

Rowan cried out in surprise her hands flying to her face. "NO!" she shouted. "You guys you said you had a bomb threat… you… you tricked me!"

The living room had been done up in pastel purple balloons and streamers. There were platters of food, none of which were fish based, brought by Kamekona, and standing around were her friends. Steve, Nahele, Chin, Kono and Adam, Kamekona and Flipper, Duke and his wife, all the Grover's plus the children, Danny, Amber and Grace, and of course Max and Sabrina. Even the Governor was there. They were all smiling happily at her, while Rowan half turned away only to turn back to laugh at them.

Steve came forward, in dark jeans, and a black button up shirt, he quickly put a tiara onto her head and then hugged her to him as she cried into his chest. "And you thought I forgot!"

He hugged her for a bit before they all came around her to wish her a happy birthday. All joking with her about how they had all gotten her at the end.

But they weren't done yet. After everyone got to go around and wish her a happy birthday Steve ushered her upstairs so she could change, cause everyone knew how Rowan liked to dress up. She came back down ten minutes later in a knee length pink tulle skirt and a grey corset shirt with no sleeves. She had braided her hair back in a crown and put the tiara on top. She had a golden seashell glinting around her neck that had Steve beaming.

"Okay, so now that we're all ready, I'd just like to say thank you guys for doing all this for me," she announced to them. "I'm very grateful that for the second year in a row I get to spend my birthday with my new family, especially since it's grown a little bit since last year. I love each and every one of you so very much, and I just wanted to say thank you for celebrating my 29th birthday with me."

She had gotten a little teary during her speech, in fact it seemed to hit everyone. When she was done they all clapped and Steve returned to her side to hug her again before standing beside her and tugging her to her side.

He gestured to someone and then Nahele was coming out of the kitchen with a sparkler covered chocolate cake and they were all singing happy birthday to her. Rowan clapped and smiled and blew her candles out and, in the crowd, Jerry smiled, happy that her birthday was even better than she thought she would be and that he had got to help make it that way.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

"Stop cleaning!" Steve snapped from the kitchen. "I can see you cleaning. You're the birthday girl you're not supposed to clean when you're the birthday girl. Now stop it."

Rowan, in the process of picking up the paper plates that were left over promptly stopped and glared at him. "If I don't clean you guys aren't going to finish it up."

Steve threw down the platter he was carrying on the kitchen island where he then leant out of the kitchen door to yell at her. "Rowan. Stop being stubborn. Why don't you make us all your famous cocoa? Huh?"

"Really? You want me to make more of a mess?"

"Yes, you make the cocoa, the kids going to get the fire started, I'm going to finish up in here… by myself… in a timely fashion," he said to her. When Rowan only stared at him with unimpressed eyes he sighed. "Don't make me kick you out Rowan."

She rolled her eyes but moved into the kitchen to start making cocoa and though Nahele was supposed to be setting up a fire and cleaning the living room he stepped into the kitchen and asked: "Can we do it now?"

Steve came to a halt and turned to him clearly exasperated with all the interruptions but Nahele knew he wouldn't yell at him. All he had to do was bounce a little and Steve know what he meant. "We agreed we'd get to that once we were out on the Lanai."

"But I want to do it now. I wanna know if she likes it," he whined.

"We're busy 'Hele, we'll do it once we set up outside, okay?" he repeated.

"Okay, why are you two talking about me like I'm not here," Rowan asked, she then turned to Nahele and asked softly: "What's the matter boo?"

"I know we said we'd open all the gifts on the Lanai together but I want to give you my gift now. Can I give you my gift now?"

"Of course you can!" Rowan cried which caused Steve to groan but Nahele was already sprinting towards the pile of gifts that had been left for her. He pulled out his gift and Steve's and then rushed back to the kitchen and placed them right beside her.

He then turned to Steve who was trying to pack the left-over food into Tupperware containers and cried: "Come over here! We have to watch her open them together."

"What?" Steve snapped slamming the container down. "It's not Christmas! I said we'd open them later we'll open them later."

Rowan shot him a glare over her shoulder and snapped: "Don't yell at him, just put the food aside for three minutes and come over here… now!" Steve groaned and she added: "Don't take that tone with me, it's my birthday, I'm demanding your presence so bring you and your cute butt over here, please."

Steve glared at her until she turned fully around, abandoned the gifts, Nahele and the cocoa and she went over to him, as always, the second she was within arm's reach his hands snatched her up pulling her close.

"What's wrong with you?" she whispered. "What's wrong, why are you so grumpy."

Steve glanced around at the house and she smiled at him. "For godsake Steve, it's a lot to clean, it's okay to be overwhelmed. Both Nahele and I are here, and we can help you…"

"But it's your birthday…" he muttered, but Rowan just shook her head at him. "And… I unno… I just wanted it to go a certain way…"

"And I want to open my gift now," she said to him. "At least those two. And besides you know nothing goes to plan where I'm involved."

"Ain't that the truth," he said with a scoff and then he sighed. "Alright, fine but just these two." As she led him back he heard Steve ask: "Do you really think my butt is cute?"

But as she was more interested in the gifts she ignored him. Once she was back by the kettle. Steve went to stand beside Nahele as he pushed a gift forward. "That one's mine," he said. "And the other one is Steve's."

Rowan picked up his and his heart swelled up with a nervous excitement. When he had picked out her gift he was so certain she'd like it, but now that she was about to open it he was worried she wouldn't. But Rowan picked up the small box, got the wrapping off quickly and then was opening it up.

"Oh, is that what I think it is?" She brought out the little baggie of pastel purple guitar picks with a smile. "Does that say… is that my name?"

"I heard you complaining that you're always losing guitar picks and how you wanted to write your name on them so you could prove people were stealing them from you," Nahele told her and Rowan laughed. "Now… now everyone will know they're yours… and so will you."

"Awww, you are so sweet," she said pulling him in for a hug while she looked them over. The gold cursive spelling out Pierce glinting in the light. He didn't tell her that they were expensive and Steve had to pay a lot for them, he was just glad that she liked them.

"And, this one is mine," Steve said. "And is also practical… I figured… you know… I got you the car last year that it would be okay if I went small this year."

Nahele turned to Steve surprised. Rowan's GTO was his birthday gift from him last year? Rowan smiled at him in an odd way as she opened up his gift, which was just casually wrapped in sparking silver paper. "You didn't get me a car, it was a group gift, everyone pitched in, it was just your idea, and you got it out of the HPD impound lot. But we both know if I tell the others you're taking sole credit that they'll kill you."

She got the paper off and under it was a simple black leather bound note book, she opened it up to reveal song paper. "Look at the spine," he whispered and she closed it and turned it. And there across the spine was golden print Songs by Rowan Pierce Vol. 2. Steve took it from her and turned it to the back cover and opened it up. "And it has this little flap at the back for slip in all those napkins or random pieces of paper you scribble notes on sometimes." He glanced up to her to see her staring at him and he frowned. "I know it's small but uh… the one my mom gave you is almost full so I thought… you know…"

"These are absolutely the best gifts I will get this year," she said. "They are practical, and beautiful, and completely my aesthetic and I can't wait to use this book or these guitar picks… and this was just… wow… I love them…"

She pulled them both in for a hug before sending them off to finish their chores. She made three mugs of cocoa while Nahele was outside getting the fire started. With Nahele's help both he and Steve managed to clean up the living room and get all the food in the fridge. While they did that Rowan made a platter of all the essentials for s'mores. Steve took the gifts outside, while Nahele got the s'mores onto the table so they'd be ready to roast them, and Rowan, Rowan went upstairs to change into her lounging clothes, and came back down with her black wooden, white seamed acoustic guitar and Nahele smiled, he loved listening to her strum away.

She got her book, her favourite chewed up writing pen and a few of the guitar picks. When they were all done with their chores, Rowan sat herself down by her chair by the water, a cup of cocoa beside her, her book open on the small table beside it.

"You boys start roasting your marshmallows, I've hit a bit of inspiration and I want to capture it before it goes," she said.

Steve shook his head, but shoulder to shoulder he and Nahele stood, spearing their marshmallows to put over the fire. "That's our girl," Steve said to him. "Lightning in a bottle, that girl."

Nahele shook his head. "I'm thinking more like fireflies in a jar," he whispered. Twinkling and fragile, a piece of a starbound night sky that a jar would never do justice to.

Steve purposely put on two marshmallows on his roasting spit clearly to make a s'more for Rowan. Already Rowan was strumming away, a certain lyric repeating over and over in different keys, different tempos, different chords. She had a lyric, she had a bit of a tune, this was a song forming, and he marveled at the way it took form under her gentle care.

You'll always be the home I wanna come home to, cause there ain't no place, no place like you.

Nahele looked back to Steve who was patiently roasting his marshmallows while watching Rowan with this look of loving awe on his face and then back to Rowan who, in the firelight looked like another being, like a fairy or something. He had spent so long wishing for a dad, a real one instead of the waste of space he had called dad so he could have a real family. When his mother died he thought that that was it for him. There was going to be no family until he got old enough to marry and make his own. But there on that beach with a man who may have needed some time to warm up to him but had more than warmed up in the short span of time Nahele had lived with them and the woman who had taken one look at him and decided she wanted to give him a home he felt like he was in a fairy tale.

Steve the strong warrior prince, and Rowan the fairy princess. This beach front home their little kingdom. Nahele couldn't help but feel like, for the first time in a long time, he had a family, that he was home.